And Christian Knop's numbers were ridiculous — he went 71-0 as a senior while winning his fourth straight state title and also racked up the most pins at the state tournament (four). He won each of his last 235 prep matches, went 300-14 overall and won Senior Nationals after the regular high school season.
He also ran cross country and did track and field, and at the Class 5A Section 2 meet he placed third in the 800 and eighth in the 400. Pretty impressive given his size (he wrestled this year at 195).
Alabama isn't known for having the best wrestling, but he still finished on FloWrestling's big board (No. 92) and I know expectations within the program are high for him. He's almost a definite redshirt provided that rising redshirt junior Nick Reenan is healthy at 197, but that will be perfect for him making the jump from Alabama preps to Division I.
Also of note … the team has racked up a really good stable of bigger wrestlers to push Knop - rising redshirt freshman Trent Hidlay (184, if I'm predicting I'm betting on him being an All-American this year), rising redshirt junior Nick Reenan (197, likely national title contender if healthy … wrestled on a torn ACL all last year, but the Pack doesn't win ACCs without him), former 197 national champ Michael Macchiavello still trains in Raleigh, former two-time heavyweight national champion and two-time world bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski is still based out of Raleigh, plus former Wisconsin standout and recently promoted volunteer assistant coach Timmy McCall (Hope Mills native that wrestled 184 and 197 in college and has been on the US Olympic ladder for a few years now) and Duke All-American heavyweight Jacob Kasper (who is an assistant for Duke but still trains at the Wolfpack Regional Training Center).
Link: https://www.al.com/sports/g66l-2019...et-alabamas-best-hs-athletes-from-201819.html
He also ran cross country and did track and field, and at the Class 5A Section 2 meet he placed third in the 800 and eighth in the 400. Pretty impressive given his size (he wrestled this year at 195).
Alabama isn't known for having the best wrestling, but he still finished on FloWrestling's big board (No. 92) and I know expectations within the program are high for him. He's almost a definite redshirt provided that rising redshirt junior Nick Reenan is healthy at 197, but that will be perfect for him making the jump from Alabama preps to Division I.
Also of note … the team has racked up a really good stable of bigger wrestlers to push Knop - rising redshirt freshman Trent Hidlay (184, if I'm predicting I'm betting on him being an All-American this year), rising redshirt junior Nick Reenan (197, likely national title contender if healthy … wrestled on a torn ACL all last year, but the Pack doesn't win ACCs without him), former 197 national champ Michael Macchiavello still trains in Raleigh, former two-time heavyweight national champion and two-time world bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski is still based out of Raleigh, plus former Wisconsin standout and recently promoted volunteer assistant coach Timmy McCall (Hope Mills native that wrestled 184 and 197 in college and has been on the US Olympic ladder for a few years now) and Duke All-American heavyweight Jacob Kasper (who is an assistant for Duke but still trains at the Wolfpack Regional Training Center).
Link: https://www.al.com/sports/g66l-2019...et-alabamas-best-hs-athletes-from-201819.html
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