VTErnie

TJ is back, talked to him, he seems happy to be back. looks like a heavyweight, he has always been heavy in the hips. Noah is back wrestling hard, hope he can make 157, Bo and his little brother were, Bo was very gracious, came over to say hello and introduce himself. as did several others who came over to just say hello. A great bunch of young men.

Saw Noah drilling in practice today. It appears he has recovered and will be a full sized 157.

Yes, 125 will continue to be as if you're watching paint dry, then the real possibility of a series of TFs.

I believe Hunter regressed his last two years. What a shame.

Speaking from personal experience, any development I achieved was from the competition in the room. When you wrestle against Brandon Glover, Mike Grandstaff, Bob Bowman every day you advance your skills. When I was at Tech, our coach was a great guy but more of a manager. Our big guys, need better people in the room to push them.

Since many former Granby wrestlers came to Tech, I learned the Granby Roll when I was in high school. After Tech I went into coaching. As a second year coach I attended the first Granby School of Wrestling camp. Mr. Marin singled me out immediately because I still weighed about 120 pounds, the same size as his son Billy who was a rising senior in high school. During every session break, Mr. Martin would ask me to wrestle with Billy for for a few minutes. Mr. Martin was unmerciful, after 15 or 20 minutes he would say how about a few more minutes. After a few days, I was worn out, but I was saved on the third day when I got a cut above my eye and Doctor C. gave me five stiches. I never heard him called Coach Martin, it was always Mr. Martin. PS to Chris Taylor, Armand Taylor attended my church in Blacksburg.

Sherman VanDevender did the leg bait back in the 50's. Once the opponent took the leg he would throw in a whizzer and put the guy on his back. Sherman is in the HOF.

A true freshman after 1 varsity match as a VT starter ranked that high. Not only is that incredible, he is an incredible wrestler. He reminds me of Andonian, seems to always know which way to turn or roll. Absolute body control at all times.

How many matches does AS have left before he RS?

Why send all of the 149 #s to the same tournament?

Before he hurt his hand, I saw him dominate Campbell in a practice match.

When I wrestled the lowest weight was 123. I never weighed more than 120. On a trip, the heavy weight and I enjoyed every meal.

I can't get it on ESPN. Not sure why. Tried a couple of other games, got nothing.

I've seen them go in the room. Gaj should go to 57.

When Pry was hired, he embraced VT, he embraced the fans and he embraced the community. Obviously, he has other problems, such as coaching. Our football program has been in a downward spiral since the last four years of Frank Frank stopped recruiting his last three years, he got rid of his best two recruiters. He left Fuente very little. If Fuente had not brought in Evans, his first year would have been a disaster. Bailien undermined Fuente all along the way. We have had major problems for over 10 years. Will it take another ten?

According to the morning paper, TJ has entered the Portal. tj

He was a first time champion and he handled it with class. No flips, no splits, raised his hand and smiled.

It looks as though next year's class is a good one, but I don't believe they will be ready as freshman to be AA. I also believe next year's line up has a lot of holes to fill. If EV is back that will help. However, Campbell is pretty good and so is Crook, but are they AA caliber? Hip was not ready for the big stage, I hope he gets his head right and not just a new hair color. We have big holes at 165 and 174. Sasso should be a strong 197 and Jimmy will be better. I think we have a real problem in coaching at the upper weights--they are not developing as they should. Catka never reached his potential. Hunter Bolen's first two years were really good, then he went gradually down hill. The lower weight coaches are really good, the lower weight guys will develop into quality wrestlers, buy not overnight.

He broke his hand prior to the final ACC match.

I thought Campbell wrestled an incredible match. A true freshman, really a 125, he wrestled a quality wrestler to sudden victory. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Henson is with Bryce as his coach.

The song for this team should be "I Hope You Dance"

When Jack Marr coached at Woodberry Forest, he did not have the wrestlers warm up on the mat. Each wrestler would do his warm up prior to his match. He believed that after a few matches the pre-match warm up was of little value. However, at home he had a record player and he always brought a record player to away matches so he could play "The Student Prince" for his wrestlers while they were in the locker room before the matches started.

I wrestled at Tech in the dark ages, I was a head coach at a high school and a head coach of college program. I had a lot of wrestlers who wanted to win, but I had very few who hated to lose. When I retired and moved back to Blacksburg, it took me some time to get back into VT wrestling. I'm sorry i never saw Devin Carter wrestle. From what I have heard he was one who not only wanted to win but did not like to lose. Of all the current wrestlers I seriously believe Henson is the only one who has that desire in his belly. I really like BA and MK and I feel they will win a lot of matches but not sure about them when it comes to crunch time. I hope I'm wrong.

If the mat IQ of three of our wrestlers was better we would have won.

Who was the recruit at practice on Friday? He was sitting and talking to Church.

When I wrestled at Tech, we had a couple of quads each year. We also wrestled at WVU before a basketball game.

When I wrestled at Tech the lowest weight was 123. I consistently weighed in at 118. When we went on trips, the heavy weight and I hung out together. For some of our guys, the worst trip we ever took was a dual with Davidson on Friday and the next night at The Citadel. To get there, we had to shared a bus with the swim team. I thought our 155 guy was going to kill one of the swimmers. They ate the entire trip.

Stopped by practice this afternoon. The "old" guys seem to be happy. Talked to Bryce, Caleb, and Tom. Lewis and Latona were not there. Mullen looked pretty light on his feet for someone around 260. Smiling a lot, appeared to be having fun. He and Big Cat were workout partners. Sasso is taller and leaner than I expected. He was very fluid when doing drills. Andy has impetigo. Henson and Andonian were partners in the drills, with Caleb's height I don't see him moving up a weight Flynn is back at practice. Not sure who the other freshmen are, will take some time to recognize them. Very enjoyable way to spend some time.

Has anyone else heard that Iowa put together a NIL package worth $400,000 for Ferrari?

With an ego a big as apparently he has, I'm sure he would rather be in front of 6000 rather than 2000 at a dual meet.

I saw Tom a couple of days ago, he looks bigger than BA

Yes, he worked really hard to improve and deserves the accolades. I also give a lot of credit to Coach Brewer. When I would go by practice, Brewer was often working with him one on one.

Tech has made a lot of mediocre wrestlers look a lot betters than they are.

Bolen, even though up and down, will be surely missed. If any of you have been to practice you would notice Bolen is no match for Sam or TJ. Maybe a year will help them but right now Bolen is far superior.

I went by practice today, Brewer was working one on one with Eddie

I was at today's practice and asked if everyone were healthy, the response was yes. The guys left B-burg today at 4 for Chapel Hill.

When I wrestled at Tech, we went to P. State in 1961. They had over 5000 people in attendance. We had never wrestled in front of that many people before.