UB Wrestling Set To Open Up Season At The Terrapin Duals On Sunday
10/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York wrestling team opens up their 2015-16 campaign on Sunday morning at the Terrapin Duals. The Bulls will take on Davidson and Maryland.
BULLS HEAD TO TERRAPIN DUALS ON SUNDAY
The Bulls will hit the road for their first action of the 2015-16 season on Sunday, November 1 as they will travel to College Park, MD for the Terrapin Duals. The Bulls will kickoff their season against Davidson at 11:45 am and then they will wrap up action at 1:30 pm against the host Maryland Terrapins. The Bulls havent faced off with Davidson since the 2008-09 season when UB won 31-6 while they havent faced the Terrapins in much longer, since 1974-75.
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The State University of New York, Buffalo wrestling team is coming off of another improved season in 2014-15 as they were able to win five duals, improving by two from the season before. The Bulls entered the season as the youngest team in the nation last season and again this season as they have 26 underclassmen on their 31-man roster. The Bulls projected starting lineup has three upperclassmen while they are also starting three redshirt freshman. UB returns six starters from a season ago. The foundation for years to come has been put into place by coach Stutzman and his coaching staff as UB has only one senior on their roster.
BULLS TO LEAN ON YOUTHFUL LINEUP
After a season full of ups and downs, the Bulls will be leaning on a youthful lineup in 2015-16 as they will be starting three freshman and four sophomores to start the season. Although the Bulls youthful lineup looks inexperienced on paper, these Bulls have been competing at high levels for years. The three freshman all competed last year in tournaments for the Bulls as they used their redshirts while the sophomores have been in the program under an energized Stutzman for three years now. The UB coaching staff is relying on their talented young players to create a winning culture at Buffalo and lead UB back to the top of one of the best conferences in the NCAA, the MAC.
SIX BULLS EARN PRESEASON RANKINGS
The excitement surrounding this year's team not only stands true within the walls at Alumni Arena, it is evident in the national perspective as well. The Bulls have six grapplers earning preseason rankings this season after just one earned that praise a season ago. Redshirt freshman Jake Gunning earned the highest ranking as he earned the 13th spot at 285-pounds by the wrestling report. After a strong second half of the season last year, sophomore Colt Cotten earned the 21st spot by wrestling report while Jason Estevez and Kyle Akins earned 23rd and 24th place respectively. Redshirt freshman Bryan Lantry and sophomore Joe Ariola both ranked 25th.
BULLS DEPTH SHOULD PAY DIVIDENDS
After an improved 2014-15 campaign which saw the Bulls win two more than the previous season, the Bulls enter this season with more depth in their roster than any other season under coach Stutzman. The added depth will only help push the starters to perform at a higher level. At 125-pounds, Kyle Akins will have some tough competition with Corey Hollister and freshman Justin Patrick. At 133-pounds, Bryan Lantry has earned the start but Blake Retell and Rocco Russo will provide good competition for the redshirt freshman. The best battle of the early going has come at 141-pounds as Jason Estevez and Brandon Lapi have both performed at a high level, with Estevez prevailing and earning the start.. The battle at 197 should be fun to watch as James Benjamin and freshman Nate Rose have each shown flashes that give the coaching staff confidence at the heavier weights.
ARIOLA EMBRACING MOVE TO 184 POUNDS
After a slow start to his redshirt freshman campaign, coach Stutzman moved Joe Ariola from 197-pounds down to 184-pounds and something seemed to click. Ariola won his final two MAC duals of the season by major decision and decision as he closed out the year with a 14-11 record. With a strong summer, finishing second at University Nationals, Ariola will be leaned on heavily this season to perform and get some points for a hungry UB squad.
NCAA QUALIFIERS APLENTY
The growth of the Buffalo wrestling program has been noticable not only locally but also nationally. Over the past seven seasons, the Bulls have produced 21 NCAA qualifying wrestlers after only producing six during the previous five seasons. Buffalo set a program record during the 2011 campaign as they had six wrestlers qualify for NCAA's. As a program, the Bulls have notched 45 NCAA qualifiers since the 1996 season.
FECHKO AND GRANT ADDED TO COACHING STAFF
Looking to add some more familiarity to his program, head coach John Stutzman added a pair of new assistant coaches for the 2015-16 season. The first move Stutzman made this offseason was the hiring of Craig "Boomer" Fechko to take over as his lead assistant. Fechko comes to Buffalo from Dakota Wesleyan where he was the head coach for one season. He previously served as a volunteer assistant at Bloomsburg for John Stutzman during the 2012-13 season. Fechko will work with the Bulls lightweights. Stutzman then promoted Justin Grant from Volunteer assistant to assistant coach after one season at Buffalo. Grant wrestled for Stutzman at Bloomsburg and was a NCAA qualifier at 285-pounds for the Huskies. Grant will work with the Bulls heavyweights this season.
PROJECTED UB LINEUP
125: #23 Kyle Akins
133: #25 Bryan Lantry
141: #23 Jason Estevez
149: #21 Colt Cotten
157: Tim Schaefer
165: Tyler Rill
174: Muhamed McBryde
184: #25 Joe Ariola
197: James Benjamin
285: #13 Jake Gunning
