Destin McCauley staying at the OTC

Looks like Destin McCauley has decided to stay at the OTC and skip college wrestling altogether. That's a big hit to our lineup for next year. Destin was penciled in as an AA at the very least and had a decent shot at being a finalist. And our other likely AA, Spangler, is done with wrestling from concussions. Finch, Beard, Gibson, or Goettl could still AA, but the loss of McCauley will mean a huge decrease in our team standings in March.

With him out who do we have at 149? Mayfield? Or do we try to get Weatherman at 149 and Moreno at 157? I'm sure they were planning on 157/165 so I hope there is time for them to shrink down 8 pounds without losing too much of their strength.

Ouch...

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Originally Posted by cy4prez7

Ouch...

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To put it mildly.

I'm sure he was either on a full scholarship or close too it, to. So that is a lot of money we had tied up in him rather than going after other recruits. And at this point in the summer there aren't exactly a lot of recruits left that we can use the money to go after. So his decision not only directly loses us an elite wrestler, it also costs us whatever other recruits we didn't go after because we had promised money to Destin.

I blame his girlfriend

When did this news break?

Last night on twitter:

@destined_2begr8: And it's finalized. This is just where my heart is.


I do wish him the best of luck and hope he can win Olympic Gold in 4 years

He wouldn't have been ALL IN. Best of luck to him, though.

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Originally Posted by Isuska

I blame his girlfriend

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I normally don't follow him on Twitter but this morning I looked through what he's been saying and it does look like there is definitely a girl in Colorado Springs. He's 18 or 19, an age where perspective doesn't exist yet. I'm sure that played a big part in it.

In before Limburger cheese

I don't really understand this. The next Olympics is four years away. Why not spend a couple of years in college and then train for the Olympics? Maybe this is more common than I realize, but it just seems strange since the NCAA is so lenient for Olympic redshirts.

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Originally Posted by Clonehomer

I don't really understand this. The next Olympics is four years away. Why not spend a couple of years in college and then train for the Olympics? Maybe this is more common than I realize, but it just seems strange since the NCAA is so lenient for Olympic redshirts.

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It isn't very common in Freestyle, though in Greco you'll have guys skip college and go through the Armed Forces athlete program. I think the answer is Henry Cejudo. Cejudo skipped college wrestling and won a gold in Beijing in 2008. So I am sure that Slay and USA Wrestling think that they might have the next Cejudo on their hands. And they've probably spent the last year telling McCauley that.

As you pointed out, the next Olympics is four years away, which is why I am assuming this means he is skipping college wrestling altogether. He doesn't really gain anything by staying at the OTC this year unless he planned on staying until 2016. If he started college wrestling this year he would still have a redshirt available for 2016 after his junior season to focus on Freestyle. So he could get his Olympic shot and then come back for his senior year. But there would be no point in staying this year and then trying to transition to college wrestling.

Iowa State wrestlers were at the OTC this week, I'm not sure if any of the coaches were there other than the Paulsens. A tweet isn't formally withdrawing himself from Iowa State, but I would be surprised if anything changed his mind.

Trent & Travis Paulsen, Jon Reader, Matt Gibson, Cole Shafer, Tanner & Trent Weatherman, Mike Moreno all are out there for OTC training camp. KJ went out a little later. The guys are really training hard and trying to get better.

I think Troy Nickerson stayed back to run practice and I think Troy is then headed to Fargo.

We need to make a big push for Edwin Cooper, I think the negative for Edwin and Iowa State before was Destin and Edwin would both like to be at 149 and Iowa State wanted him to go to 157.

I agree that Edwin Cooper should be a high target but we is redshirting and we wouldn't get him until 13-14

ISU can keep KJ around as long as they want, but this is really the end of his tenure here.

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Originally Posted by MartyFine

ISU can keep KJ around as long as they want, but this is really the end of his tenure here.

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That'll be determined by the results from this year. Even with Destin staying at the OTC there is still an expectation that our young guys will get better and the dual season will be much stronger. A lot is especially riding on Finch, Goettl, and Beard's performances, I think. Since those are three guys that could break through. But a poor dual season and/or zero or one AAs and I can't see any way he is still around next year.

As far as Destin... there is no recruiting season or limitations for USA Wrestling. They put together a bunch of pressure to keep him and that plus a girlfriend was apparently enough. It's also the second time he's decommitted from a program to go to the OTC. I wish him luck, but I think in the long run he'll find he's made a poor decision. He's putting all his eggs in one basket going for Olympic Gold. One injury or mistake and he loses it all. Plus he didn't even qualify for the trials this year.