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MI Grappler's 2010 Recruiting Roundup - Division 1 Programs

7/8 - The recruiting season is now all but over, especially for Michigan's Division 1 programs, therefore, will will give a quick breakdown and analysis of what new faces will be invading our Michigan College wrestling rooms this fall.

There were some big name out-of-state guys recruited in, especially by some of the D1 programs, however, a very large amount of the top in-state prep grapplers are staying in-state this year. Over half of the Top 50 recruits in our Senior Recruiting Rankings have signed or committed to wrestle in-state, including 7 of the top 10 recuits in the state.

We will start out with our breakdown of the Division 1 programs, and next week the breakdown of Michigan's smaller schools will be released.

Based on our anaylsis system, Michigan State put in the best year on the recruiting front of the D1 schools, bringing in three of the Top 10 recruits in Michigan and a pair of Top 100 recruits in the country from out of the state. However, Michigan, Central Michigan, and Eastern Michigan were not far behind with their own big name in-state guys and some out-of-state talent as well.

Read below for the full breakdown of MSU, Michigan, Central Michigan, and Eastern Michigan.

Who They Got:

Nick Humes (Lakeshore), 149/157

Ryan Watts (Ferndale), 149/157

Kevin Nash (Roseville), 149

Sean McMurray (Portage, IN), 157

Troy Lamson (Swan Valley), 157

Robert Nash (Lindsey Wilson/Transfer), 157/165

Nick Proctor (Nequa Valley, IL), 165

Tyler Humes (Lakeshore), 174

John Rizgallah (Allegan), 184

Nick McDiarmid (Hartland), 197

Analysis

In terms of overall depth and in-state pickups, this is the best

recruiting class for the Spartans in recent years. They landed 6

Top-30 recruits from the state of Michigan, including #3 Nick

McDiarmid, who won Senior Nationals and has not lost a match in

the state of Michigan since his sophomore year.

Headlined by McDiarmid, coach Tom Minkel and the Spartan staff

seriously boasted their upperweights as all 8 of their announced

signings are projected to compete at 149lbs and above. McDiarmid

could be an immediate option for State at 197lbs, and undefeated

state champ John Rizgallah could see time soon at 184. Minkel

also landed a solid late in-state signing in Senior National All-

American and Division 3 state champ Troy Lamson of Swan Valley,

who is one of many middle-weight newcomers for the Spartans in

this class.

Two big time out-of-state recruits could reap some immediate benefits as well as Top 100 national recruits and nationally proven Sean McMurray of Indiana and Nick Proctor of Illinois could make their Spartan debuts within the next couple years, and could be a couple of the key components for the future in East Lansing.

Ryan Watts and the Humes brothers Nick and Tyler will likely all take a

redshirt year, however, they are all very athletic additions who are Top 30

recruits and capable of turning into solid contributors in the next couple

years for MSU as well. Former Senior National All-American and Michigan

State Champ Robert Nash of Roseville, who wrestled his freshman year at

Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky, will also be transferring into the

Spartan program next year and provides further depth and talent in the

middleweights.

In terms of needs, MSU only graduated three starters, however, one of

those was NCAA Champion Franklin Gomez who will be difficult/impossible

to replace. Gomez was a 133lber, however, lightweights was likely not a

priority for Minkel and company as they already feature a lot of youth in

their light-weights, including last year's biggest recruits Dan Osterman and Josh Harper, who should be in the mix at 133/141 next year. The graduation of NCAA qualifiers Kyle Bounds and Nick Palmieri at 165 and 184 were addressed nicely with McMurray, Proctor, Lamson, Humes, and Rizgallah who could all see time either right away or down the road in that weight range.

This class may not have a Franklin Gomez type prospect, however, the overall depth of top-tier talent gives them some promise as all of these signed recruits are capable of being very competitve in the Big Ten. Virtually every wrestler coming in for Michigan State was dominant in their state last year and has proven themselves at some point on the national stage. This could be the start of something nice for MSU if they continue to build off these signings.

Who They Got:

James Cusin (Allen Park), 133

Zeb Hilyard (Hudson), 133

Collin Zeerip (Hesperia), 141

Tanner Zych (Caledonia), 141

John Evashevski (St Ignace), 141

Don Watkins (Canton), 149

Jake Salazar (Watasch, UT), 157/165

Matt Hart (Rochester Adams), 184

Chris Heald (West Bloomfield), 184

Max Huntley (Blair, NJ), 197

Analysis

Coach Joe McFarland and the Wolverines may not have much in terms of high profile nationally

proven guys from the class of 2010, however, true to form they still have two big name out of

state guys they are just from past high school classes. In addition, a large group of in-state

guys including four of Top 50 recruits from Michigan provide depth around the big name studs.

Max Huntley was one of the top 189lbers in the country coming out of Blair Academy

two years ago and after spending a year at Blair's prep school, he could be an

immediate option for the Maize and Blue at 184/197 and continues the Michigan-Blair pipeline

(all-american Kellen Russell is a Blair product as well). Jake Salazar was also highly touted

coming out of Utah a couple years ago and after a 2-year mormon mission, it will be interested

to see if he is ready to help the UM middleweights in the near future.

This Wolverine recruiting class does not feature a ton of big name depth, however,

they really did not have many needs to address with an already very young team.

They return every starter from last year's team and they anticipate the return of all-

american Kellen Russell and the introduction of mega-recruit Eric Grajales who both

come off redshirt years.

The out-of-state guys are the headliners of this class, however, a fleet of in-state guys

provide the depth. State Champs Zeb Hilyard and Collin Zeerip lead the in-state

signings, however, state finalist Tanner Zych of Caledonia, 4x all-stater Don Watkins

of Canton, and 2x all-staters Matt Hart and Chris Heald are all talented kids that

could develop into solid contributors down the road as well.

Who They Got:

Ben Matthieson (Holt), 133

Tyler Keselring (Greenville), 133

Dakota Cooley (Chelsea), 149/157

Doug Eldridge (Detroit CC), 149/157

Jared Porter (Carl Albert, OK), 149/157

Ryan Quinn (Oak Hills, OH), 174

Taylor Schuck (Elgin, IL), 174

Analysis

With the outstanding recruiting classes filled with Blue-Chip recruits

that Tom Borelli has been bringing to Mt Pleasant the past few years, it

is impossible to maintain that every year. This year's Chippewa class

features a few very talented in-state and out-of-state recruits, however,

they do not feature the big-name Top 100 national recruits that they

have been blessed with in recent years.

Four Michigan state champions lead this class, which is more bottom

heavy with light to middle weight wrestlers. Division 1 state champion

Ben Matthieson was a Senior National All-American this year and,

along with three time state champ Tyler Keselring, should be solid

options down the road for CMU's lightweights. Keselring, along with

Chelseas state champ Dakota Cooley, are very athletic wrestlers who

have a great deal of national exposure and success coming into their

college careers.

The 149/157 weight range was succesfully addressed with this class as Cooley, DCC state champ Doug Eldridge, and Oklahoma state champ Jared Porter should all be competetive to see time in the next couple years in this weight range. Porter, who is ranked 14th in the country at 145lbs, may be the one of the least known names on the list but he could be the most valuable addition for CMU in this group.

The Chipps graduated six starters from last year's lineup: 125 (Steintrager),

141 (Beeb), 149 (D'Alie), 157 (Brown), and 165 (Grayson), and 197 (Simaz).

With this mass exodus of quality starters, one would expect Borelli to bring

in a larger group, however, Chippewa faithful should not be too worried as

their are a plethera of big name recruits from the past years who are waiting

in the wings such as Joe Roth (125), Donnie Corby (149), Adam Miller (157),

Eric Cubberly (165), and Craig Kelliher (197) to name a few. This group of

recruits did add needed depth for 141 as Matthieson and Keselring could

grow into that weight and they did add depth in their middleweights 149/157

where they lost starters as well.

CMU has already begun to build their 2010-2011 recruiting class as they picked up a huge commitment from one of the country's top incoming senior heavyweights in Devin Pommerenke of Rogers City. With their large group of graduating seniors and thin group coming in this year, expect to see more big pickups this fall to go along with Pommerenke.

Who They Got:

Shane Dutton (MH Lamphere), 133

Jake Byers (Rockford), 133

Jaylyn Bohl (Allegan), 141

Derrick Marry (Hudson), 141/149

Brent Winecoff (Canton), 157

Aaron Risch (Williamston), 157/165

Jake Johnson (Rockford), 165

Mike Curby (Hillsdale), 165/174

Jake Dorulla (Rockford), 174

Coach Derek Delporto is no longer a newbie in Ypsilanti as his lineup is now

nearly entirely filled with recruits he brought in. He has made a statement in

his first few seasons, signing a large number of big-name Michigan recruits and

this year is no different as the Eagles will welcome 4 Michigan state champions

and a total of 7 Top 50 Michigan recruits, including #4 Jake Dorulla and #5

Mike Curby.

Curby has been very competetive on the national freestyle and greco stage

throughout his career and could have the most upside of all the big recruits in

this class. He comes in likely at 174 and could see time in the near future.

His greco expierence gives him the ability to hold position and handfight, which

keeps him in matches and could make the transition to college relatively

smooth for him.

Dorulla, along with Rockford teammates Jake Byers and Jake Johnson, come

in with a tremendous amount of talent. Former Rockford standout JJ Johnson

is already a main-stay in the EMU lineup and they could have an influx of Rams

wrestling for them in the near future.

State Champ Jaylyn Bohl heads up a solid group of tough, physical Michigan kids in this class. Brent Winecoff, Aaron Risch, Derrick Marry, and Shane Dutton are others who have been among the best in the state over the past few years and should create an instant impact in the EMU room.

Delporto's ability to bring top-tier Michigan kids to Ypsilanti cannot be argued, now time will tell if the Eagle staff can make their team of primarily in-state kids successfull in the MAC. Curby and Dorulla appear to be the most promising in this group to make an immediate impact to help EMU start to challenge the CMUs and Kent States of their conference.

Check back as Michigan Grappler's breakdown of the Division III, NJCAA, and NCWA programs will be released next week!