(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
A few years ago, Arizona State University wrestling was a program on the rise after having one of the best recruiting classes in the nation.
Now, the program has risen and has an opportunity to test itself against another program with similar aspirations. One that the Sun Devils would like to join on the conversation of being a national championship contender, like Ohio State.
After opening last weekend strong up in the Dakota’s, the No. 8 Sun Devils return home to host a pair of ranked schools in No. 21 ranked University of North Carolina and the No. 3 ranked Buckeyes.
Looking at some of the matchups that both schools feature is something that ASU wrestling coach Zeke Jones likes for a multitude of reasons.
“You will find out where you are at immediately at the start of the year when you are wrestling a team like Ohio State,” said Jones. “It’s good for us to know what’s the best team feel like right out of the gate, so we can go back and make adjustments over the next couple of months.”
With ASU wrestling UNC on Saturday, Jones noted that his team must focus one dual at a time with UNC being a good up-and-coming team from the Atlantic Coastal Conference.
“Can’t look past them. They are going to be ready to fight,” Said Jones.
When junior Zahid Valencia decided to come to ASU, he wanted to build up wrestling on the west coast. With the help of these two marquee duals, Valencia sees it as a building block to that.
“Just getting all these recruits, my teammates all these wrestlers wrestling at the best of their ability,” said Valencia. “Everyone can see what kind of performance we have and what kind of coaches we have and wrestlers that way we can win those national championships.”
ASU added many big name guys earlier this week by getting commitments from highly touted recruits. The culture that Valencia envisioned when he signed is beginning to mold here in Tempe.
This weekend will only help the west coast wrestling picture even more.
UNC has several ranked guys in freshman Austin O’Connor, No. 16 at 149, sophomore Kennedy Monday, No. 6 at 157, and redshirt seniors Chip Ness, No. 8 at 184, and Cory Daniel at heavyweight.
Jones mentioned the possibility of UNC’s Daniel and ASU’s red-shirt freshman Brady Daniel wrestling, as they are both brothers at heavyweight.
Ohio State, the returning Big Ten champion, has a lineup that features big name guys with All-American status earned in prior seasons.
However, OSU won’t have 184-pounder Myles Martin or 197-pounder Kollin Moore in the lineup this weekend, as they are competing on the international level in Europe but should have former Stanford wrestler- No. 2 ranked senior Joey McKenna- and No. 3 ranked senior Micah Jordan in the lineup this weekend against the Sun Devils.
ASU will likely roll out a lineup that will mirror the one they used last weekend versus South Dakota State.
“We are still trying to sort out our lineup,” said Jones. “That was our first opening weekend, so we are getting a chance to see how they compete, they obviously trained well, have the intersquad now we are getting them into competition. We will weigh in some extra guys and see how they compete on the first day whether or not we make some changes on the second day or not.”
According to Jones, ASU will weigh in two guys at 133, 149, 165, 197 and HWT for the duals this weekend.
The dual Saturday against UNC and Sunday against OSU will both start at noon inside Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
All rankings for this article were used from Intermatwrestle.com’s Nov. 13 rankings.
