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Jesse Mendez vs Seth Gross!


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On 5/31/2022 at 8:03 AM, MUSKEEWRESTLING said:

That was awesome!!  He is such a competitor.

 

It's the mindset that really stands out. I think of Nick Lee, Andrew Howe, Jason Tsirtsis, Cashe Quiroga (his senior year was insane), and Zeke Seltzer who didn't run from anyone in fact probably chose their freshmen year some of the toughest weight classes to win. All have that mindset of bumping up and competing against the best competition. They definitely don't avoid it. No disrespect intended to any other greats I failed to list.

 

I also thought Steiber was insightful as well, Mendez had a good balance of elite and average competition - which is the trajectory of most long-term elite wrestlers.

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44 minutes ago, SWINfan said:

Seth Gross is now the US World Team Member, beating Daton Fix at Final X.  Jess gave him a helluva run.  That just goes to show you can't give these veterans anything and have to finish them off.  Nice run for Gross after the 1st round scare from Mendez!

Yessir, Mendez is only a season or 2 away in that OSU room, from developing that man strength, His technical prowess, having ppl to really push him to heights maybe never seen by anybody from Indiana.. He's really becoming a scary scary talent  anybody on the planet will have problems with... Gross knocking of world silver medalist Fix speaks to the enigma Mendez really is! 

 

Edited by FCFIGHTER170
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Unreal, how good Jesse already is. I never want to play the “what if” game but… I truly believe if he doesn’t get his arm trapped against Gross our guy would be a World team member. Just my opinion. Super proud of that kid. Can’t wait to see what he does next year. I was thinking redshirt was a possibility. Not anymore… dude may win it all. 

Edited by Mattyb
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1 hour ago, Mattyb said:

Unreal, how good Jesse already is. I never want to play the “what if game” but… I truly believe if he doesn’t get his arm trapped against Gross our guy would be a World team member. Just my opinion. Super proud of that kid. Can’t wait to see what he does next year. I was thinking redshirt was a possibility. Not anymore… dude may win it all. 

I agree 100% 

He kinda reminds me of a phenom from a few years ago in Aaron Pico who was just dominant in his battles. Would’ve loved to have seen him stay on path of wrestling instead of MMA. 
Jesse is always stepping up his game and continues to rise to the top. 
While it was a tough loss against one of the sports best, this will only make him better. He very well could be(yes I’m sayin it) a 4x collegiate champ. 

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I think we might be jumping a bit ahead here with the 4xer and Champ as a true frosh talk.  Jesse is great and will continue to be.  But he's taken losses to guys he may see again.  I don't think there is a direct line to connect the match with Gross to being a Senior World Team Member.  Lots of land minds in between.  I like the fact that he went for it and held his own, however.  

I think he may go his freshman year if he can wrestle 133.  141 may be a bit much, going back to the strength that's already been mentioned.  To go 133 he'd probably be most physically ready, but that class is loaded.  RBY, Fix, Arujau to name a few.  The competition, is easier at 141, it seems, but will he be physically ready?  

I still think he redshirts.  OSU doesn't have a team ready to compete at the highest level next year.  No need to push Jesse or any of the other incoming frosh.  

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5 minutes ago, SWINfan said:

I think we might be jumping a bit ahead here with the 4xer and Champ as a true frosh talk.  Jesse is great and will continue to be.  But he's taken losses to guys he may see again.  I don't think there is a direct line to connect the match with Gross to being a Senior World Team Member.  Lots of land minds in between.  I like the fact that he went for it and held his own, however.  

I think he may go his freshman year if he can wrestle 133.  141 may be a bit much, going back to the strength that's already been mentioned.  To go 133 he'd probably be most physically ready, but that class is loaded.  RBY, Fix, Arujau to name a few.  The competition, is easier at 141, it seems, but will he be physically ready?  

I still think he redshirts.  OSU doesn't have a team ready to compete at the highest level next year.  No need to push Jesse or any of the other incoming frosh.  

 Agree he should redshirt next year.  He is a 133lb.. 141 is not a great wt for him next year imo. But he is really good wrestler.  Bouzakis strength has been a huge challenge to him in these first couple matches and I think Mendez is better in freestyle

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2 hours ago, smitty11 said:

 Agree he should redshirt next year.  He is a 133lb.. 141 is not a great wt for him next year imo. But he is really good wrestler.  Bouzakis strength has been a huge challenge to him in these first couple matches and I think Mendez is better in freestyle


The odd thing is that most have Bouzakis slotted at 133 and Mendez at 141. Not sure it might not be better switched.  But not sure how either may still grow.  Time will tell, but the future is bright.

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54 minutes ago, SWINfan said:


The odd thing is that most have Bouzakis slotted at 133 and Mendez at 141. Not sure it might not be better switched.  But not sure how either may still grow.  Time will tell, but the future is bright.

The going assumption is that Bouzakis isn’t growing a ton more and could be a 133 for most if not all of his college career, whereas Mendez looks to still be able to pack on a solid amount of size and strength to get to a solid 141.   Obviously the Buckeyes want to get them both in the lineup for as many year as possible.   Bouzakis has major help from his upper body greco technique in many of the battles he won during their three matches with Jesse.  He’s going to be a handful for many opponents if he can improve on that power while remaining at 133.  

Edited by MattM
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As one of the few diehard Buckeyes fans on this board, I’ve been speculating a lot about their future with all of these recruits and the redshirt situation starting next year. Feldman has stated in a couple interviews that the plan is for him to redshirt, and if he doesn’t go next year I’d be shocked if Mendez or Bouzakis go right away… Unless, an idea I think could work well, Jesse goes next year at 133 while the other two redshirt, then the next season Bouzakis slots in at 133 while Jesse redshirts and bulks to 141(or vice versa depending on who seems to be getting heavier). It would give all three a redshirt year, keep them together for the same class, and be competitive at 133 next year while giving Nic and Jesse time to work out the weights they’ll intimately settle into.
 

All this said, obviously the coaching staff and to an extent the wrestlers will have the final say on what they do next year. The Feldman interview was a while back, so the plan may not be to redshirt him or the bunch anymore after seeing him dog college studs, as well as Jesse’s continued emergence. I have full confidence that next fall Feldman will come into the room and no less than major Orndorff a majority of their matches.
 

While I agree with SWINfan that the Buckeyes are still likely at least a couple seasons off from real contention, I think it wouldn’t be fair to their team to NOT go all in for a trophy finish when you have 3 starters returning for a senior+ season. The difference in this team’s finish with or without Heinselman, Ethan Smith, and Kaleb Romero is incredibly substantial. If those three are coming back when they could be moving on, you have a true freshman heavyweight who could very legitimately AA out of the gate, and you have that potential option of alternating Bouzakis and Mendez the next two years, I say go for the best finish you can. Especially when you have AAs like Sasso, Kharchla, and Hoffman returning as well.

 

Whatever decisions are made this upcoming season, this is going to be one hell of a fun team moving forward.

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The guy was dominating Gross until he got stuck in a bad situation. 
 

As a parent of a college wrestler, I’ve been really watching incoming kids over the last few years. Each class comes in and every kid is a state or national champ. The first few months in that actual college room and program is rough. Most kids struggle to score a point. Some of the kids make adjustments and put in the work to start and most don’t make it 4 years. Most are done after a year or two. My point is regardless of who you are… those first few months in any college program kids grow the most. I think that the Jesse that we saw putting on Gross will elevate his skills a few more notches starting now until November. He’s gonna to be a top contender out of the gate. And at that level staying healthy is tough. With all of that said.. if he elevates his skills, like I know he will before season starts and he’s 100 percent, you have to let that dude try to go get that title. 
 

I think he will wrestle unattached early on at opens like they all do. Then… first home meet… our dude bust out of the tunnel with the OSU singlet on. 

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1 hour ago, Wrestlingfan937 said:

So much hype building! I’m ready for this upcoming season! 
 

ps. Rumor has it that S.Lee will go 133 this upcoming season. Could you imagine that…… Jesse vs Lee     Future Goat vs Goat.


Much more interesting would be how it plays out with Lee, RBY, Daton Fix and Vito Arujau (who is also rumored to be bumping to 133).  That's a deep weight if it happens.  

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