The wrestling team’s top recruit last year was 174-pound Jacob Burge, a freshman in First Year College, from Mason, Mich. Burge started wrestling at age 6, following in his father’s footsteps.
Winning his first tournament that same year, he has continued to have a strong work ethic and has become not only part of the starting lineup as a freshman, but coach Carter Jordan hopes he exemplifies the future of the wrestling program at N.C. State.
Jordan summed up Burge’s character with a smile.
“Jake cares about two things: wrestling and wrestling.” Jordan said. “He’s really driven and he is as hard a worker as there is on the team.”
In elementary school, Burge moved to Mason and began his wrestling career at 6 years old.
“I found this brochure, and I looked at it and thought it might be fun,” Burge said. “I brought it to my dad, and he had had a few years of wrestling experience.”
Burge said he didn’t know what to expect as a 6-year-old going to wrestling practice.
“I thought it was going to be like a WWF thing,” Burge said. “But I was totally amazed that it wasn’t and I liked it.”
That same year Burge wrestled in his first tournament and took second place. He has continued to grow as a wrestler over the years and credits his motivation partly to his dad.
Burge’s father also has a career in wrestling, and is a coach in Michigan according to Jordan. Burge also feels that his inner drive and focus has helped his success.
“For me, it’s just my personality,” Burge said. “I’ve always had the drive, and I feed off other people.” Burge said. “I just have that motivation to do better and come to practice every day and continue to train hard and beat people up.”
Last year, in Burge’s senior year of high school, his wrestling team traveled to N.C. State’s wrestling camp, where Jordan spotted him and said he was his main focus as well as his top recruit. Burge had scholarship offers to many colleges all over Michigan, as well as Northern Illinois, Ohio State and N.C. State.
“I knew where I was going to sign, but I took my visits everywhere,” Burge said. “I really like the wrestling program here. It may be young right now, but I know where it’s headed and it’s going in a great direction, and I want to be a part of that.”
A full ride scholarship offer to wrestling at State drew him to State, yet that was not the deciding factor, according to Burge.
“I knew if I stayed close to home I was going to be watched by my dad,” Burge said. “I wanted to grow as a person, and I think if I moved far away, it gives me a chance to explore myself and my personality and make my own mistakes.”
At practice it’s clear that Burge is already emerging as a leader on the team demonstrated though his strong work ethic.
“As a freshman, many people knew who I was,” Burge said. “People look up to me because I work really hard on the mat, and [the other wrestlers] see what I’m doing and they realize that this guy’s a freshman and he’s doing all this work, maybe I should too.”
According to Jordan, he is an example of what the wrestling team will be recruiting in the future.
“Jake will be the future of our program,” Jordan said. “He exemplifies everything that we are looking for, great talent, and tremendous work ethic. He wants to be the best he possibly can be and he’s willing to do the work needed to get there.”