Following a historic season that resulted in a fourth-place team finish at NCAAs, the NC State wrestling team will officially kick off the 2018-19 season this weekend with the Wolfpack Duals in Reynolds Coliseum.
Head coach Pat Popolizio’s squad is poised for another strong season, as the Wolfpack continues to push itself further into the conversation of the nation’s wrestling powerhouses. NC State will have to replace six of 10 starters from a year ago but has the pieces in place to be just as good.
Here is a breakdown of the Wolfpack’s roster:
125 pounds
Redshirt senior Sean Fausz will take the reins again at 125 pounds after winning an ACC title in the weight class last season. Fausz didn’t wrestle all of last year’s season but came on strong at the end to enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 5 seed in the weight class.
This year, Fausz enters the season ranked No. 9 in the country at 125 pounds. However, the Wolfpack will be without Fausz this weekend as he competes for the United States at the Under-23 World Championships. Junior Tommy Cox provides some depth at this weight class, as Cox went 16-7 last year.
133 pounds
Redshirt sophomore Tariq Wilson exploded onto the scene last season, making an incredible run at NCAAs to finish third in the country after entering the NCAA Championships unseeded. He starts this season ranked No. 3 in the nation by InterMat and is one of the Pack’s best starters.
141 pounds
This weight class is wide open for NC State, as the Wolfpack will have to replace one of its most decorated wrestlers ever in Kevin Jack. Redshirt senior brothers Jamal and Jamel Morris will compete for the spot, along with redshirt freshman A.J. Leitten.
Jamel Morris looks to be the Pack’s frontrunner earlier, as he captured the 141-pound title at the Hokie Open earlier in the month. Jamel Morris went 5-0 in that tournament to claim the title, but all three of these guys should get plenty of matches early on.
This weight class is a new one for both Morris brothers, as Jamel Morris wrestled at 133 pounds last year and Jamal Morris wrestled at 149 pounds.
149 pounds
The Pack brings in a graduate transfer to replace Beau Donahue at 149 pounds, as Justin Oliver enters the program after starting his career at Central Michigan. Oliver went 28-7 last year and entered the NCAA Tournament as the six seed.
Starting off this year, Oliver is ranked No. 6 in the country by InterMat.
157 pounds
The only question from this weight class for the Pack is whether or not it will produce a national champion this season. Redshirt sophomore Hayden Hidlay had one of the most impressive freshman seasons in school history last year, going 26-1 with that one loss coming in the NCAA finals.
Hidlay is ranked No. 2 in the country by InterMat, behind only Penn State’s Jason Nolf, who beat Hidlay for the NCAA title last season. For NC State, the 157-pound match is where the Pack can go ahead and pencil in a win and likely bonus points in any dual match this season. For Hidlay, the chance to avenge his NCAA loss is definitely on the table as he is one of the front-runners to win a national championship at 157 pounds in 2019.
Like Fausz, Hidlay will miss the Pack’s opening weekend at home while competing in the Under-23 World Championships for the United States.
165 pounds
In, without a doubt, the Pack’s weakest weight class last season, redshirt sophomore Thomas Bullard will start for NC State this season at the one weight it didn’t qualify someone for NCAAs in last year.
Bullard redshirted last season but was strong enough to make it to NCAAs the year before at 157 pounds. He took last year’s redshirt to move up weight classes, going 12-3 in open tournaments at 165 pounds. He isn’t ranked to start the season by InterMat, but does appear at No. 23 in the TrackWrestling rankings.
174 pounds
The other Bullard brother on the Pack’s roster, redshirt sophomore Daniel Bullard, will start again for the Pack at 174 pounds. Last season, Daniel Bullard went 17-11 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. To begin this year, Daniel Bullard is ranked No. 17 by InterMat.
Providing depth at 174 pounds is one half of yet another set of siblings on NC State’s roster, freshman Trent Hidlay. Trent Hidlay comes into the program as the third-best 174-pound recruit in the country.
184 pounds
The Pack has to replace decorated wrestler Pete Renda, who was the four seed at NCAAs last season and will do so with redshirt sophomore Nick Reenan. For NC State, it isn’t uncommon for wrestlers to redshirt a season in the middle of their four years to switch weight classes, and that is the path Reenan has taken.
As a freshman, Reenan qualified for NCAAs at 174 pounds. He took last year off and now enters the 2018-19 season one class heavier. During his redshirt year, he went 21-4 in open tournaments at 184 pounds. Reenan begins the year ranked No. 6 by InterMat.
197 pounds
NC State has to replace a national champion, Michael Macchiavello, at 197 pounds. The Pack will go to an experienced veteran in redshirt senior Malik McDonald, who wrestled at heavyweight last year.
McDonald has plenty of experience at 197 pounds though, as he wrestled at that weight his first two years at NC State. In 2017, McDonald was an NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds. He starts this season unranked by InterMat but ranked in a few other polls.
285 pounds
The heavyweight class is wide open for the Wolfpack, as Michael Boykin has departed. Redshirt junior Tyler Johnson, freshman Colin Lawler and freshman Deonte Wilson will compete for the starting spot.
Wilson is the higher-ranked recruit of the two freshmen, but Lawler finished his senior year of high school undefeated with all 36 of his wins coming by pin. Johnson wrestled sparingly at 197 pounds last season for the Pack, going 9-8.
