Mr. Wennihan,
I did not intend to irk you when I mentioned that (just a bit of sarcastic humor that obviously didn't go over well). I believe junior colleges serve as a great option, especially when you consider Missouri, Arkansas (although they may have one now), Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico don't have Junior College wrestling. Some of these schools can offer up to so many scholarships (and in some cases probably give assistance elsewhere), so with those many faces and very few education options with wrestling, it isn't a bad stepping stone.
I will say Junior Colleges make more sense then Prep Schools you see on the East Coast which get you ready for college but you don't get credit for the classes...it is like redshirting, but still having the option to redshirt later on.
Jayhawk CC schools have done pretty well too I believe in the last several years (at least the team that has the best GPA in the region). I believe in the last 10 years or so Labette, Neosho, and Colby all have won the Academic National Championships.
However the only thing that winds up hurting some of these kids is what I expect to be a lack of motivation (notice I said some and not all). If you look at kids that have had success at the NJCAA level, some of them fall off the radar at the next level...not because of talent, but because nobody is there to nurture them so much (or as some may say "baby them").
Let's face it some of the best kids academically are probably not the starters at these junior colleges (not always the case as some were just missed in the recruiting process, or a larger school didn't have need for that weight or money at this time). The academic kids may go on or may not. The "studs" will get opportunities to go on and may last a semester, be eligible for Nationals while half-heartidly going to class and then wind up dropping out of school after a stellar 1.23 gpa at Big University.
I didn't mean to knock the junior college system, more times then not, they are cleaning up a mess from poor high school education systems that just pushed some of these kids through.
