Foregoing the High School Season... Does It Actually Matter?

[blueandgold]

Per the title, I'm curious to know whether the high school season actually matters for blue chip recruits. This is a thing we've seen in Indiana a handful of times in recent years, and what made me ask was due the national success of Christian Carroll. Carroll only competed in Indiana for one full season as a junior where he won a state championship at 220 pounds; he was injured as a freshman, transfer ineligible as a sophomore, and later moved to Oklahoma as a senior. His Oklahoma State athlete profile has no mention of his state title win in Indiana likely due to his outstanding national resume which included winning Super 32 twice and being a U-20 World Team Member while being the #1 overall recruit in the nation. In recent memory beyond Carroll, we've seen a wrestler like Paul Konrath forego his final two seasons to compete nationally, then the Lee brothers would all forego their senior seasons to train early at Penn State. We've seen it in other states as well such as California where an eighth grade Aaron Pico defeated one of the best wrestlers in Indiana history in Cody LeCount in the Fargo finals. Pico would only wrestle one season of high school as a freshman where he won a state title; he would go on to sign a contract with Nike and Zinkin for MMA. Of course, Carroll, Pico, and the Lees are anomalies, but I've been quite curious about this particular subject and wonder does this help or hurt the sport at the high school level? Also, in my opinion, it begs the question as to whether there would be a widespread change if it occurred more frequently? And then when you take NIL into account, how does it really affect the future of sports?

[M109R]

Wonder how Christian Carroll got so good only competing for 1 year in High School ?

[Silence Dogood]

I think it's because he went to a big school first. 

[SunDevils]

Many of them are anomalies. I liken it to football there is only one Peyton Manning and Tom Brady each of them are 1 of 1, it is foolish for NFL teams to try and replicate it. The likelihood is your team will not have the same path to success since you do not have those same transcendent quarterbacks. 

 

Christian Carroll and Nick Lee were head and shoulders above the rest. Wrestling in Indiana their senior year wasn't going to improve their skill level. Without question they were going to find success on the next level. 

 

Mason Parris, Andrew Howe, Chad Red, J. Tsirtsis, Escebedo, and Micic are a few others who I am fairly confident could have skipped their senior year and still found success based on their D1 placement history. If Indiana is claiming Gable Stevenson, he too would fit that bill. 

 

Bottomline, for a vast majority of athletes, enjoy high school. Chase your state title and go to college not with wrestling, olympics, or MMA as a goal but as a means of receiving a strong education at a subsidized cost (or if you are fortunate free). Then leverage your experience wrestling and the determination, grit, and mental toughness it forms to be a rockstar in the professional world. Not all can be world class winners on the mat, but everyone has the opportunity to be a winner at life.

Edited January 10 by SunDevils

[M109R]

1 hour ago, Silence Dogood said:

I think it's because he went to a big school first. 

Had to be . 

[blueandgold]

1 hour ago, M109R said:

Wonder how Christian Carroll got so good only competing for 1 year in High School ?

The sarcasm is cute, but this isn’t a class wrestling topic. Save that for the other thread, son.

[M109R]

41 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

The sarcasm is cute, but this isn’t a class wrestling topic. Save that for the other thread, son.

Son???

[M109R]

46 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

The sarcasm is cute, but this isn’t a class wrestling topic. Save that for the other thread, son.

Well do you have anything useful to add to this thread , or are you just Trolling?

[M109R]

9 hours ago, blueandgold said:

Per the title, I'm curious to know whether the high school season actually matters for blue chip recruits. This is a thing we've seen in Indiana a handful of times in recent years, and what made me ask was due the national success of Christian Carroll. Carroll only competed in Indiana for one full season as a junior where he won a state championship at 220 pounds; he was injured as a freshman, transfer ineligible as a sophomore, and later moved to Oklahoma as a senior. His Oklahoma State athlete profile has no mention of his state title win in Indiana likely due to his outstanding national resume which included winning Super 32 twice and being a U-20 World Team Member while being the #1 overall recruit in the nation. In recent memory beyond Carroll, we've seen a wrestler like Paul Konrath forego his final two seasons to compete nationally, then the Lee brothers would all forego their senior seasons to train early at Penn State. We've seen it in other states as well such as California where an eighth grade Aaron Pico defeated one of the best wrestlers in Indiana history in Cody LeCount in the Fargo finals. Pico would only wrestle one season of high school as a freshman where he won a state title; he would go on to sign a contract with Nike and Zinkin for MMA. Of course, Carroll, Pico, and the Lees are anomalies, but I've been quite curious about this particular subject and wonder does this help or hurt the sport at the high school level? Also, in my opinion, it begs the question as to whether there would be a widespread change if it occurred more frequently? And then when you take NIL into account, how does it really affect the future of sports?

So if we give our opinion on the various questions you ask and you don't agree with them , then we're trolling .