Week 1 Michigan Recap

Week 1 is in the books for the Michigan Wolverines as the picture of this 2016-17 becomes clearer.

Brian Murphy was in Cleveland, along with myself, at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Murphy looked really good scoring on Rohskopf (NC State) and having little difficulty getting to his legs. However, in the 3rd period Rohskopf used his inverted trap-arm move in a scramble to score a defensive fall for the exhibition win. 

The EMU (Eastern Michigan) Open on Saturday gave us an opportunity to see many of the young Wolverine grapplers that McFarland will feature this season. Michigan finished the day with four champions showing promise despite such a young lineup looming. 

RS freshman Austin Assad went 5-0 in his varsity debut to claim the 125 title. It was an impressive day with wins over veteran starters Thorton (Purdue) and Fleetwood (Central Michigan).

As expected, highly touted RS freshman Logan Massa dominated his way through the 165 bracket for the championship. 

At 174, almost all outside of Ann Arbor expect a (when) healthy Davonte Mahomes to eventually get the spot for a March push. That may still happen, but it appears he does indeed have some legitimate competition. RS freshman Myles Amine won the bracket Saturday with five impressive high-powered victories. He started the day with two first period pins before winning 18-4, 12-5, and 13-6. He was putting up points all over the place making the question about whether or not the guy who 13-2 at 165 during his redshirt year at 165 could compete at 174 this year start to evaporate quickly. 

Despite rumors about redshirting, Senior Dominic Abounader pounded out his opponents on his way to winning the 184 bracket. 

Two other redshirt freshmen who are expected to start placed as well. At 141, Sal Profaci took 3rd showing no signs he plans on giving up the spot he earned by defeating 2-year starter George Fisher in the wrestle-off. At 197, Jackson Striggow took 4th losing tough matches to D3 star Lefever (Wabash) and Central Michigan veteran, Severn. 

It wasn't all positive news for the maize & blue.

At 133, Stevan Micic was caught by Fitzgerald (Ohio State) in the semi-final and pinned in just 1:06 causing one of the biggest upsets of the opening weekend. 

At 285, the answer for a 285 to fill in for Adam Coon is starting to look desperate. Freshman Dan Perry went just 1-2. Redshirt freshman Kostya Golobokov went just 2-2. 

Michigan will have their first dual meet of the season on Friday night at 7pm when the Virginia Cavaliers come to Ann Arbor. It will be an interesting test for the young Michigan lineup.