Brody Conley's Red-shirt

[Jon Perkins]

Halfway through the season it is clear that this kid is pretty dang good. He just finished 3rd at the Midlands tournament with some quality wins over guys like Thune Lawrence from Lehigh and Josh Otto from Wisconsin and had an overtime loss to a Top 10 ranked Edmond Ruth which I feel like he could have won if he had a little more experience in tight matches like that one. Even after wrestling unattached at the Midlands FLO already has ranked around 25, so they obviously think that he is pretty good as well.

Here is my question: I feel like as good as he is in his True Freshman year, I still don' t think that he is going to have a podium finish at the NCAA tournament. I think he could have a 3rd or 4th place finish at the BIG 12's and could win a few matches at the NCAA tournament with an outside chance of making the round of 12. In this scenario is it enough to justify pulling his red-shirt?

Personally, I do not think so. I would much rather save him for the next 4 years when he has a much better chance of becoming an All-American. The points that he would gain for the team would not be enough to make a significant difference in the final team standings and I just don't think that the squeeze is worth the juice. What does everyone else think?

NOTE: This is all hypothetical based on the little information that we have right now, but I think it could be a good conversation.

[mscoach57]

Agree on the redshirt if we are to believe that wrestlers are IMPROVING while at WVU. Watching some of the weight classes I am not sure all of our wrestlers are getting better during their time at WVU.

[Geoswaff]

I think its a bad assumption to start with that every wrestler at the top tier D1 level should get measurably better and maybe crack the top 25. I think that is a best case outcome for schools like WVU who get maybe 1 top tier recruit every other year who has that top 25 level right out of the gate. The other top 25 talent at WVU has to be developed (gotta kiss a lot frogs to find those couple of princes) or transferred in. The vast majority may come with solid high school resumes, even national ranking, but are not elite level college top 25 guys and never will be no matter where they go to school. A lot of them do get better and win more matches but maybe don't crack the top 25 (i.e. Hornfeck) but a lot have ceilinged and do not get measurably better over time and that is true at every school (i.e. 125lbs at Penn State)

That being said, I think that burning a red shirt is a strategic decision based on that wrestler's potential to impact the outcome of the team's finish in the Big 12 and at NCAAs and/or potential podium finish. If Coach Flynn sees that opportunity this year while he still has Killian then I can see him burning it this year.

[KDunbar]

I think its a bad assumption to start with that every wrestler at the top tier D1 level should get measurably better and maybe crack the top 25. I think that is a best case outcome for schools like WVU who get maybe 1 top tier recruit every other year who has that top 25 level right out of the gate. The other top 25 talent at WVU has to be developed (gotta kiss a lot frogs to find those couple of princes) or transferred in. The vast majority may come with solid high school resumes, even national ranking, but are not elite level college top 25 guys and never will be no matter where they go to school. A lot of them do get better and win more matches but maybe don't crack the top 25 (i.e. Hornfeck) but a lot have ceilinged and do not get measurably better over time and that is true at every school (i.e. 125lbs at Penn State)

That being said, I think that burning a red shirt is a strategic decision based on that wrestler's potential to impact the outcome of the team's finish in the Big 12 and at NCAAs and/or potential podium finish. If Coach Flynn sees that opportunity this year while he still has Killian then I can see him burning it this year.

I personally think the above is a very well thought out discussion of not only this post's topic but the debate/rancorous discussion that goes on here regarding WVU wrestling. I read but don't post much on the college thread because I don’t follow collegiate wrestling closely and therefore I don't know much about the details. However, I am a West Virginian and a proud WVU grad and I do know Morgantown. You can build all the facilities you want and you can bring in any coach you want. The population size and draw will not change and that's your fan base and excitement level at events. I'm guessing on the next 2 things, but I believe the last highly ranked wrestler (who was from WV) and the current one both came to WVU regardless of the coach or facilities or the hype/etc. They were from WV and that was their dream, and a valid one.
There seems to be 2 topics that gets mixed together in the debate. Some are talking about their dreams of making WVU wrestling a national power to some degree and the above post I believe puts this into some perspective. Others speak about competing year in and year out with even smallwr schools. To me it's all about real estate, ie location, location, location.

[Letsgooo]

Burn that thing immediately

[Letsgooo]

You have absolutely no guarantee he will be here in four years. With the portal the way it is, all it’d take would be a top team needing a 174lber. Plus you see guys that are good as freshman then by the time they’re seniors they’re so injured that they’re a shell of themselves.

Shoot the bullets while you have them.

We had two years left of eligibility of Adams and he just said he was done with college.

You should always wrestle your best guys. Can you imagine any of the big three sports doing this.

[KDunbar]

Do the last 2 matches, with losses to Ohio University and Pitt, lessen the feelings that this should be done?

[Jon Perkins]

Do the last 2 matches, with losses to Ohio University and Pitt, lessen the feelings that this should be done?

Absolutely...I get the feeling that he will wrestle better in tournaments than he does in dual meets because he has a little more time to recover from the weight cut and that is something he needs to get to figured out. Even though he might be the best guy at this weight for WVU, he still is not going to make a significant impact on the team standings at the end of the season. I say give him this year to get things figured out with his weight cuts and how to compete with the highly ranked guys and turn him loose next year.