With the 2024-25 wrestling season done and over with, it’s never too early to look ahead to next season. So, we’re putting out a list of the Top 30 Big Ten wrestlers going into the 2025-26 season in three segments — starting with Nos. 21-30.
The Big Ten is by far the superior wrestling conference in the country — the last team to win the NCAA team title that wasn’t out of the Big Ten was in 2006 when Oklahoma State won its fourth straight. Since then, Penn State has won 12 times, Iowa has won four,
Ohio State and Minnesota have each won one title.
Gone now are guys like five-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci, NCAA champions Ridge Lovett and Greg Kerkvliet, and NCAA finalists Beau Bartlett, Matt Ramos and Jacob Cardenas, among others.
Those are some big shoes to fill, but the Big Ten has a tendency to reload every year, so this was not an easy list to get on. There were tough cuts to make and hairs to split in ranking these guys. In the end, I prioritized a wrestler’s NCAA tournament success, so despite a lot of guys holding legitimate arguments to be on this list — a podium finish (and how high) at nationals was often the difference-maker.
Big Ten’s 30 Best (Nos. 21-31)
Rankings by FloWrestling
31. Marcus Blaze – Penn State
#10 at 133 pounds
I’m adding one more name here, but he doesn’t get into the Top 30 because he hasn’t toed the line in college yet, but his potential and age-level success warrants his inclusion — he’ll likely be much higher on this list next season. The only true freshman on here, Blaze is bursting with potential and expectations.
Even at Penn State, the success Blaze has already had in addition to his immense potential makes his one of the most anticipated freshman seasons ever — he’s that good.
A four-time Ohio state champion, a two-time Ironman champion, and a Fargo National Champion in freestyle — Blaze has actually done his best work on the freestyle circuit internationally in multiple divisions. A U17 World Champion in 2023, Blaze earned a U20 silver medal in 2024 before dominating the field for U20 World Gold this summer at 61 kg.
In addition to his age-level success, Blaze also holds his own against the best on the Senior level — he finished second at the World Team Trials and third at the Olympic Trials in 2024 as a high-schooler, earning signature wins over World silver medalist and four-time NCAA finalist Daton Fix, NCAA champions Seth Gross, Nahshon Garrett, Nico Megaludis, and Nathan Tomasello, as well as wins over both Jax Forrest and Bo Bassett — Forrest was a missed singlet pull away from medaling at the Senior World Championships just this month. Blaze also beat Nebraska’s own Brock Hardy 8-2 at Final X this summer up at 65 kg. Blaze is on the U.S. Freestyle Men’s National team (Top-3 in the country) at both 61 and 65 kg — that’s absurd.
Coming up later this month, Blaze will compete for Team USA at the U23 World Championships and will have the opportunity to complete the “Triple Crown” wrestling at 65 kg. He’d be the first American to ever do it, and possibly the first wrestler ever to do it (I wasn’t able to find an instance of a male wrestler from any country winning U17, U20 and U23 World titles).
As a high-schooler, Blaze really announced himself when he entered the Clarion Open, a collegiate tournament, in 2023 as a junior in high school — he beat returning NCAA finalist and then-#1 ranked Matt Ramos of Purdue 4-1 in sudden victory at 125 pounds. That’s the same Matt Ramos that beat Spencer Lee — now an Olympic silver medalist — at NCAAs earlier that year.
With all those wins over former NCAA Champions on the senior level and Ramos in folkstyle, it’s clear that Blaze is ready to compete for an NCAA title right away. He’ll start his career at 133 pounds, a really deep weight class in the Big Ten this year (as you’ll see). If he can sustain the cut all year, he’ll be a name to look out for.
30. Jacob Van Dee – Nebraska
#5 at 133 pounds
A guy who’s historically been up and down during the regular season, Van Dee showed a lot of mettle at the 2025 NCAA Championships. After a first-round loss, Van Dee won four straight matches on the back side — including an 8-0 major decision in the bloodround. Van Dee eventually found himself in the 7th-place match where he took out Stanford’s Tyler Knox 7-2 — Knox had beaten Van Dee 5-0 earlier in the season at the Cliff Keen Invitational. Van Dee finished his sophomore season with his first All-American honors.
After redshirting at 125 pounds in 2023, Van Dee moved up to 133 as a redshirt freshman and won the starting spot. As a freshman, Van Dee went 23-10 on the year but failed to place at NCAAs. This past season, Van Dee finished the season with an 18-11 record but finished on the podium.
Van Dee’s hit list includes All-Americans like Knox, Braeden Davis (Penn State) and Dylan Ragusin (Michigan), as well as Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis.
29. Braeden Davis – Penn State
#8 at 141 pounds
In his first season at Penn State, Braeden Davis wrestled at 125 pounds — he won a Big Ten crown and made it to the Round of 12 at NCAAs. This past year, Davis moved up to 133 pounds and finished fifth at NCAAs to earn his first All-American honors.
It’s unclear if Davis actually starts this year as a junior because he has an available redshirt and Penn State has an incredibly deep room with some lineup flexibility, but if he does it will be at 141 pounds with the addition of Blaze at 133. Davis has a career record of 39-11 and went 1-1 against Nebraska’s Van Dee this past season.
Regardless, Davis seems to be a kid who’s still growing, so a move up to 141 could be the best thing for him — I do think a redshirt would do him good though.
28. Taye Ghadiali – Michigan
#4 at 285 pounds
A transfer for his senior season from Campbell, Taye Ghadiali has been one of the better heavyweights in the country for years. A four-time national qualifier, Ghadiali hit the podium in 2024 as a junior when he finished in 8th place. This past year, he suffered an injury that ended his season — he brings a 90-24 career record with him to Michigan.
Ghadiali has only placed once at NCAAs, but he’s had some absurdly tough draws. In 2021 as a freshman, Ghadiali’s first match at nationals was against that year’s champion Gable Steveson (who won Olympic Gold soon after). In 2023, he lost to eventual champion Mason Parris of Michigan in the second round (who went on to win World bronze that year before being Team USA’s Olympic rep in 2024). In 2024, his first loss was to eventual NCAA finalist Lucas Davison (also of Michigan) in the second round before he won three in a row on the back side to secure an All-American finish.
A haven for heavyweights as of late, Michigan has been able to maximize the potential of guys like Parris, Davison (a Northwestern transfer) and Josh Heindselman — an Oklahoma transfer who placed seventh as a senior for the Wolverines this year. I think they’ll do the same with Ghadiali who I expect to contend for high All-American honors this year.
27. Nick Feldman – Ohio State
#6 at 285 pounds
Another high-potential heavyweight, Feldman came into Ohio State with a lot of expectations as the top recruit in the class of 2022. He placed in 5th place as a redshirt freshman in 2024 but fell in the round of 12 this past year at NCAAs.
Feldman has a pair of wins to his name over former NCAA finalist Lucas Davison as well as a 10-4 win over Ghadiali at NCAAs in 2024. With guys like Gable Steveson, Wyatt Hendrickson and Greg Kerkvliet gone from the heavyweight class, things feel a lot more wide-open than in years past.
A guy like Feldman could be a sneaky pick to make a deep run at nationals after kind of under performing in his first two years in the lineup.
26. Vance Vombaur – Minnesota
#5 at 141 pounds
Vance Vombaur has been in the starting lineup the past two seasons at Minnesota and has finished in 8th place at the NCAA tournament both years. This past season, he made it to the Big Ten final where he lost via pinfall to Nebraska’s Brock Hardy.
With a 51-22 career record going into his senior season, Vombaur will continue to be a tough out — he wrestles a very grueling style that can wear on his opponents. He holds wins in his career over NCAA finalist Beau Bartlett of Penn State and All-Americans Josh Koderhandt of Navy and Cael Happel of UNI.
He’ll again be in the hunt with Hardy and returning champ Jesse Mendez of Ohio State.
25. Silas Allred – Nebraska
#5 at 184 pounds
Silas Allred has been an extremely steady guy for Nebraska over the past three seasons — he’s gone 25-7, 26-8, and 22-8 in his three years as a Husker starter. After finishing one win shy of All-American honors in his first two years in Lincoln at 197 pounds, Allred moved down to 184 as a junior and placed seventh at NCAAs.
All signs point to Allred finishing his college career at 184 pounds where there’s a changing of the guard — five-time NCAA Champion Carter Starocci is gone, and so is fellow champ Parker Keckeisen of UNI. Another NCAA finalist Dustin Plott is also gone, as is All-American Chris Foca.
The question this year is whether Allred can climb up the podium and hold off the young talent — #1 Max McEnelly of Minnesota finished third last year as a redshirt freshman, while Angelo Ferrari (AJ’s little brother) is coming off an incredibly impressive redshirt season that saw his only loss come via 3-1 decision to Starocci while also downing Oklahoma State’s Plott in sudden victory.
24. Ethan Stiles – Ohio State
#4 at 149 pounds
A former Husker during his redshirt season in 2023-24, Ethan Stiles decided to transfer before last season rather than sit a year behind eventual NCAA Champion Ridge Lovett. He moved on to Oregon State where he went 19-8 as a redshirt freshman while placing sixth at nationals.
Last season, Stiles had a couple big wins over multi-time All-Americans in both Lachlan McNeil (now at Michigan) and Kyle Parco (then of Iowa). This summer, he hit the transfer portal again and ended up at Ohio State where they had a need at 149 with two-time All-American Dylan D’Emilio graduating.
Tom Ryan and his staff are amazing coaches, so I expect Stiles to contend right out of the gate.
23. Jaxon Smith – Maryland
#4 at 184 pounds
Much like Allred, Jaxon Smith spent his first two seasons as a 197-pounder — qualifying for NCAAs both years but falling short. As a junior, Smith went 24-10 on the year while finishing sixth.
Smith downed Allred on the back side via 8-1 decision before dropping his final two matches. Smith is 2-1 against Allred in his career.
A guy with some serious age-level freestyle success as well, I think Smith is a dark horse candidate to get to a conference or national final.
22. Nasir Bailey – Iowa
#10 at 141 pounds
Coming out of high school in 2023, Nasir Bailey was one of the top recruits in the country — #17 on the Big Board — and he became the biggest recruit in the history of Little Rock wrestling. He then became their first All-American when he placed fourth at 133 pounds in 2024 as a true freshman.
This past season, Bailey fell in the round of 16 at NCAAs and has since transferred to Iowa where he’ll be moving up to 141 pounds. Bailey brings a 50-9 career record to Iowa City with career wins over All-Americans Zeth Romney of Cal Poly, Evan Frost of Iowa State, Kai Orine of NC State, and Dylan Ragusin of Michigan.
The real question mark is how Bailey adjusts to 141 pounds, but I think he’ll be really good wherever he wrestles for the Hawkeyes.
21. Zan Fugitt – Wisconsin
#4 at 133 pounds
During his redshirt freshman season in 2024-25, Zan Fugitt had an up-and-down start, but he got hot late. In Big Ten duals, Fugitt lost three straight matches to ranked opponents, only to win six straight going into Big Tens — including an 11-1 major decision over Van Dee.
At NCAAs, Fugitt made it to the semifinal round where he fell to Iowa’s Drake Ayala 6-1 — Fugitt beat Bailey in sudden victory along the way. He then beat Penn State’s Davis before falling to Zeth Romney, placing fourth for All-American honors.
This offseason, Fugitt represented Team USA’s U23 team at the Pan American Championships — he won gold at 61 kg.
Fugitt may be one of the best guys in the Big Ten that nobody is really talking about — he could definitely upset the apple cart in his sophomore season.
