FloWrestling has released their 2020-21 preseason rankings already. This is where the Wolfpack ranks by weight, and I'll add some thoughts on each under their name: https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/6746846-2020-21-ncaa-di-rankings/36169-team-tournament-ranking
125 R-So. Jakob Camacho - #5
On first blush, I thought this is kinda high (Camacho finished the 2020 season at #9 after his incredible upset of former NCAA finalist Jack Mueller in the ACC finals — which should have gotten more love as an 'upset of the year' candidate, but I digress). Two of the guys ranked higher than Camacho (No. 3 Vitali Arujau and No. 4 Rayvon Foley) redshirted last year, so shows you how many seniors were at the weight last year.
133 R-So. Jarrett Trombley - #21
Trombley moves up two slots from last year's finish, at No. 23. Trombley was one of the guys I was most intrigued to see at NCAAs. He was up and down, but what freshman isn't? Check out how loaded the ACC is: 6. Micky Phillippi (Pitt), 19 Jamie Hernandez (UNC), 20. Louie Hayes (UVA), 21. Trombley, 22. Collin Gerardi (VT). Going to be a tough weight once again.
Nationally, the weight is also stacked. Three redshirts from last year are ranked top 10, and that doesn't even include 2019 NCAA champion Nick Suriano, who would be a fifth-year senior but there seem to be questions about if he'll suit up for Rutgers this year. Weird situation, but if he comes back he could be slotted as low as No. 4 nationally. Some of these weights, after Olympic redshirts last year, are going to be so stacked and this is one.
141 R-Sr. Tariq Wilson - #13
Wilson has a strong enough resume that could warrant a higher ranking, but he was so inconsistent last year (losses to Nos. 5, 10, 12 and three guys who are still in college but not in the preseason top 25s). Wilson is one of the most important guys that can hold the keys to if NC State can compete for a team national like they think or if they're on that second tier competing for a team trophy (which is going to be a crazy tight race after the Olympic redshirts, etc.). The top two at the weight are coming off Olympic redshirts, and I'm guessing Josh Finesilver will be back at Duke after an Olympic redshirt. He's solid.
149 R-Jr. A.J. Leitten - #24
Good for Leitten to make the top 25. He gives the Pack a solid baseline, but there will be a ton of competition for this starting spot. If we're talking about the best team for NC State, that would likely involve true freshman Ed Scott starting — I've had many informed observers opine to me that he would've been the best 149 on the roster this year — but I believe the last graphic I saw from NC State tweet out about the signees had him listed as a 157, so that's something to monitor once he gets on campus. If I'm high and you say you can redshirt behind Hayden Hidlay or start at 149 as a true freshman on a possible national title-winning team, I'm doing everything I can to stay at 149 (Scott wrestled a college open tournament this year at 149 and 152 in high school).
157 R-Sr. Hayden Hidlay #2
Not much to say here - Hidlay is the ultimate leader and competitor. I talked to him recently for a magazine story but got a lot of great stuff I'll try to roll out in the next week or two (might not be able to get to it until Memorial Day). How's that for a tease?
He's ranked as the No. 17 overall wrestler in the country, regardless of weight (to give you a clue of how much talent nationally took Olympic redshirts — 4 of the top 7 in pound-for-pound ranks, and 7 of top 13 took Olympic redshirts last year).
165 R-Sr. Thomas Bullard - #7
Bullard finished last season at No. 10 per Flo and moves up to No. 7 with all of the graduates taken out. Two redshirts slot in ahead of him – 2019 national champ Mekhi Lewis of VT and No. 5 Logan Massa of Michigan (2017 third-place finisher). Some big-timers enter this weight nationally - No. 13 Joe Lee (Penn State), No. 15 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) and No. 17 Emil Soehnlen (Purdue).
No. 7 would be an awesome finish for Bullard given the national landscape. ACC will be tough with No. 1 Lewis, No. 7 Bullard, No. 8 Jake Wentzel (Putt), No. 12 Kennedy Monday (UNC).
174 R-Sr. Daniel Bullard - #13
Big jump from his No. 17 finish due to graduations. Matt Finesilver of Duke (No. 12) returns and adds to the ACC log jam that takes up national ranks No. 10 (Clay Lautt of UNC) to 13.
184 R-So. Trent Hidlay - #3
The rare instance where he starts in the preseason rankings exactly where he finished last year. Zahid Valencia, who was No. 1 all year until being suspended late in the year, and Taylor Lujan, who took over the No. 1 slot after Valencia was suspended, both graduated … but national title favorite Max Dean (Cornell) returns from Olympic redshirt. NCSU has Cornell on the schedule this year, and they're also guaranteed to see at least No. 2 Hunter Bolen (VT), No. 5 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) and No. 15 Devin Kane (UNC) in dual action. Once again, Hidlay will be battle tested … I think he had the toughest individual schedule on the team this year and will probably again next year as well.
197 R-Sr. Nick Reenan - UR
I'm personally not a fan of Reenan not being unranked. He was clearly not healthy last year. I'd hope the early end he had to this season and all of the enforced rest he's taking now can help him bounce back healthy. Like Tariq earlier, him getting back to his normal self is a major key if NC State wants to contend for a national title.
Only two from the ACC made the cut - No. 3 Jay Aiello (UVA) and No. 22 Brandon Whitman (UNC).
HWT Jr. Deonte Wilson - #19
I really liked what I saw from Wilson last year, and I think I'm probably the president of his fan club right now. That said, there weren't a ton of graduations from last year, which contributes to his only slight movement (2 slots from end of last year), but I feel Flo has always underranked Wilson for whatever reason.
Despite that opinion, Wilson is still the ACC favorite, just ahead of No. 21 Quinn Miller (UVA), No. 22 John Borst (VT) and No. 25 Andrew Gunning (UNC).
I think we could see Wilson contend for All-America honors this year, which would be huge from the team race perspective.
TEAM
They always plug their national rankings into a 32-man scoring rubric to generate hypothetical NCAA Tournament team scores, and that has NC State at No. 6 — only 0.5 points behind No. 5 Penn State, and 2.5 points behind No. 4 Northwestern.
It's going to be a fun year to follow the wrestling team. Like I said, I've got a few more things to come later, but I'll leave you with one nugget — in addition to Cornell, it sounds like NC State will get Lehigh on the schedule. Lehigh is a traditional power, checked in at No. 15 in the preseason team scores above and is probably about the biggest name wrestling brand that they are able to get on the schedule.
As Pat Popolizio has said several times in interviews when asked about his schedule, "You can see several teams that used to be on our schedule not there any more," and that's not because NC State doesn't want to wrestle them … they do. But it takes two to tango.
125 R-So. Jakob Camacho - #5
On first blush, I thought this is kinda high (Camacho finished the 2020 season at #9 after his incredible upset of former NCAA finalist Jack Mueller in the ACC finals — which should have gotten more love as an 'upset of the year' candidate, but I digress). Two of the guys ranked higher than Camacho (No. 3 Vitali Arujau and No. 4 Rayvon Foley) redshirted last year, so shows you how many seniors were at the weight last year.
133 R-So. Jarrett Trombley - #21
Trombley moves up two slots from last year's finish, at No. 23. Trombley was one of the guys I was most intrigued to see at NCAAs. He was up and down, but what freshman isn't? Check out how loaded the ACC is: 6. Micky Phillippi (Pitt), 19 Jamie Hernandez (UNC), 20. Louie Hayes (UVA), 21. Trombley, 22. Collin Gerardi (VT). Going to be a tough weight once again.
Nationally, the weight is also stacked. Three redshirts from last year are ranked top 10, and that doesn't even include 2019 NCAA champion Nick Suriano, who would be a fifth-year senior but there seem to be questions about if he'll suit up for Rutgers this year. Weird situation, but if he comes back he could be slotted as low as No. 4 nationally. Some of these weights, after Olympic redshirts last year, are going to be so stacked and this is one.
141 R-Sr. Tariq Wilson - #13
Wilson has a strong enough resume that could warrant a higher ranking, but he was so inconsistent last year (losses to Nos. 5, 10, 12 and three guys who are still in college but not in the preseason top 25s). Wilson is one of the most important guys that can hold the keys to if NC State can compete for a team national like they think or if they're on that second tier competing for a team trophy (which is going to be a crazy tight race after the Olympic redshirts, etc.). The top two at the weight are coming off Olympic redshirts, and I'm guessing Josh Finesilver will be back at Duke after an Olympic redshirt. He's solid.
149 R-Jr. A.J. Leitten - #24
Good for Leitten to make the top 25. He gives the Pack a solid baseline, but there will be a ton of competition for this starting spot. If we're talking about the best team for NC State, that would likely involve true freshman Ed Scott starting — I've had many informed observers opine to me that he would've been the best 149 on the roster this year — but I believe the last graphic I saw from NC State tweet out about the signees had him listed as a 157, so that's something to monitor once he gets on campus. If I'm high and you say you can redshirt behind Hayden Hidlay or start at 149 as a true freshman on a possible national title-winning team, I'm doing everything I can to stay at 149 (Scott wrestled a college open tournament this year at 149 and 152 in high school).
157 R-Sr. Hayden Hidlay #2
Not much to say here - Hidlay is the ultimate leader and competitor. I talked to him recently for a magazine story but got a lot of great stuff I'll try to roll out in the next week or two (might not be able to get to it until Memorial Day). How's that for a tease?
He's ranked as the No. 17 overall wrestler in the country, regardless of weight (to give you a clue of how much talent nationally took Olympic redshirts — 4 of the top 7 in pound-for-pound ranks, and 7 of top 13 took Olympic redshirts last year).
165 R-Sr. Thomas Bullard - #7
Bullard finished last season at No. 10 per Flo and moves up to No. 7 with all of the graduates taken out. Two redshirts slot in ahead of him – 2019 national champ Mekhi Lewis of VT and No. 5 Logan Massa of Michigan (2017 third-place finisher). Some big-timers enter this weight nationally - No. 13 Joe Lee (Penn State), No. 15 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) and No. 17 Emil Soehnlen (Purdue).
No. 7 would be an awesome finish for Bullard given the national landscape. ACC will be tough with No. 1 Lewis, No. 7 Bullard, No. 8 Jake Wentzel (Putt), No. 12 Kennedy Monday (UNC).
174 R-Sr. Daniel Bullard - #13
Big jump from his No. 17 finish due to graduations. Matt Finesilver of Duke (No. 12) returns and adds to the ACC log jam that takes up national ranks No. 10 (Clay Lautt of UNC) to 13.
184 R-So. Trent Hidlay - #3
The rare instance where he starts in the preseason rankings exactly where he finished last year. Zahid Valencia, who was No. 1 all year until being suspended late in the year, and Taylor Lujan, who took over the No. 1 slot after Valencia was suspended, both graduated … but national title favorite Max Dean (Cornell) returns from Olympic redshirt. NCSU has Cornell on the schedule this year, and they're also guaranteed to see at least No. 2 Hunter Bolen (VT), No. 5 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) and No. 15 Devin Kane (UNC) in dual action. Once again, Hidlay will be battle tested … I think he had the toughest individual schedule on the team this year and will probably again next year as well.
197 R-Sr. Nick Reenan - UR
I'm personally not a fan of Reenan not being unranked. He was clearly not healthy last year. I'd hope the early end he had to this season and all of the enforced rest he's taking now can help him bounce back healthy. Like Tariq earlier, him getting back to his normal self is a major key if NC State wants to contend for a national title.
Only two from the ACC made the cut - No. 3 Jay Aiello (UVA) and No. 22 Brandon Whitman (UNC).
HWT Jr. Deonte Wilson - #19
I really liked what I saw from Wilson last year, and I think I'm probably the president of his fan club right now. That said, there weren't a ton of graduations from last year, which contributes to his only slight movement (2 slots from end of last year), but I feel Flo has always underranked Wilson for whatever reason.
Despite that opinion, Wilson is still the ACC favorite, just ahead of No. 21 Quinn Miller (UVA), No. 22 John Borst (VT) and No. 25 Andrew Gunning (UNC).
I think we could see Wilson contend for All-America honors this year, which would be huge from the team race perspective.
TEAM
They always plug their national rankings into a 32-man scoring rubric to generate hypothetical NCAA Tournament team scores, and that has NC State at No. 6 — only 0.5 points behind No. 5 Penn State, and 2.5 points behind No. 4 Northwestern.
It's going to be a fun year to follow the wrestling team. Like I said, I've got a few more things to come later, but I'll leave you with one nugget — in addition to Cornell, it sounds like NC State will get Lehigh on the schedule. Lehigh is a traditional power, checked in at No. 15 in the preseason team scores above and is probably about the biggest name wrestling brand that they are able to get on the schedule.
As Pat Popolizio has said several times in interviews when asked about his schedule, "You can see several teams that used to be on our schedule not there any more," and that's not because NC State doesn't want to wrestle them … they do. But it takes two to tango.
