http://themat.com/athletebios/pressdetail.asp?aid=9034 i was thinking about the Nigel thread and D-I schools. From what I read above - the dude only took 4th in HS yet wrestled at OSU and now is number 1 ranked to wrestle in the Olympics. Is the bio incomplete or did Kelly really just have an OK high school career? Additionally, it appears that he did not do much at the D-1 level but now he may represent us in the Olympics. A late bloomer or a free style stud or what?
I believe CA only has one class for wrestling so a 4th place finish there may be like a championship anywhere else.
Originally posted by sportsfan02:
I believe CA only has one class for wrestling so a 4th place finish there may be like a championship anywhere else.
OK. But that still means that he lost twice at state and was NEVER a finalist. YET, he wrestled at a D-I school. Interesting.
The guys he lost to might be national champions for all you know. He probably didn't lose to just anyone.
High school placing is not any indication of how a kid might do in college. Obviously if OSU recruited the kid, they must have seen something. Granted, it's tough to get any notice whatsoever at the D-I level if you weren't a state champion, California is a whole other animal — like 500 schools in one class as opposed to under 200 schools in four classes.
Plus the kid could have been a killer freestyle wrestler which is still where the majority of the recruiting takes place.
At CMSU we had an national runner-up who never went to state in high school. If someone has a good work ethic they can improve so much in college because of the level of competition.
Nate Smith
The other thing to remember is that just because you weren't the best folkstyle wrestler you might be a better international styler. At the high school level, winning State is it; things change as you move up the ladder, though.
Jamill Kelly was recruited due to his proven accomplishment at a higher level than high school.
From the same biography:
"Second in 1996 NJCAA Junior College Nationals"
Kelly also gained much needed attention while earning high school All-American status during freestyle competition.
I had the pleasure of watching Jamill at O.S.U., and he is very aggressive and active on his feet.
Opposite of this. Johnny Thompson was a 4x Okla state champ and was not recruited by Okie St. He had to walk on his freshmen yr and still made the NCAA finals. Now that is what i call freaking gangster.
Yeah, but he's goooooood.
Thompson only won state once in highschool
i wrestled a state champ from CA once at national duals. he was gooooood.
That's why they have like 1,398,294,288.32 qualifying tournaments instead of one like us. Only the best have a shot at winning a state title.
I beat a muscle-y guy from CA at high school nationals. Three years later I saw him on an expose on steroids. During the documentary he said that he started juicin' during his sophomore year in high school. Yamahama.
Johnny Thompson Biography! High School: Thompson was the 1999 Oklahoma Class 5A State Champion for Putnam City West High School. He was a four-time state qualifier and a two-time runner-up. He posted a 38-0 record his senior season and a 136-11 overall record. He was a three-time regional champion and a third-place finisher at the 1999 High School Nationals.
Thompson gained national attention at the High School Nationals!
rocknraider,
I was going to say you have your OSU Johnnys mixed up but Hendricks was only a 3 timer, so I don't even know.
I thought he was a 4 timer.....guess i was wrong.