Colby Covington to Iowa State

**ISU2007** · 03-25-2008, 10:04 PM

2006-2007 165 pound National JUCO Champ will be transferring to Iowa State next season. Covington committed to Arizona State out of high school as a possible 174. Ended up at Iowa Central for the 2006-2007 season where he won a National Title at 165. Redshirted this season (along with Carr Jr.) and will have three years of eligibility at Iowa State. He hasn't officially signed, but I talked to him in St. Louis and is very excited about being a Cyclone.

Covington is from Springfield, OR. Just another example that Sanderson is a better national recruiter than Brands. Most of Brands recruits come gift wrapped. Brands did have a nice find in Metcalf (who idolized Brands), but most of his recruits are Iowa guys that work out with Mark Reiland (Iowa City West HC) in the freestyle summer programs.

If he does end up coming, Iowa State's middle weights will be a lot better next season. Very good competition in the room as well.

157 Sanderson/Carr Jr.
165 Reader/Carr Jr./Covington
174 Covington/Reader

**scottie33** · 03-25-2008, 10:07 PM

Good find ISU2007! How were the championships in St. Louis? How does it compare to State Wrestling Tournament here in Des moines? I do like the idea of the raised mat.

**ISU2007** · 03-25-2008, 10:12 PM

NCAA's seem to go a lot quicker (6 sessions in 3 days) than State Wrestling (10 sessions in 4 days). I am definitely making the trip back to St. Louis next year.

**ISU2007** · 03-25-2008, 10:18 PM

Here is a video of Covington wrestling Reader in the quarterfinals of Midlands. Covington ended up getting third in front of these wrestlers:
Moza Fay - All-American 5th
Mike Cannon - All-American 6th
Tim Palmer - All-American 5th (DIII)
Trevor stewert - National Qual.
Matt Coughlin - National Qual.
Ethan Headlee - National Qual.
Luke Manuel - National Qual.
Matt Lackey - National Champ - 3x All-American

Flowrestling Coverage - Midlands Wrestling Championships 2007 - (5) Jon Reader (ISU) v Colby Covington (IA Central)

**CyBobby** · 03-26-2008, 08:13 AM

All I wanta know is when are we gonna beat the hawks???? I-B-Tired of playing second fiddle to the u of i in wrestling!!!!

**Indyclone** · 03-26-2008, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by ISU2007

2006-2007 165 pound National JUCO Champ will be transferring to Iowa State next season. Covington committed to Arizona State out of high school as a possible 174. Ended up at Iowa Central for the 2006-2007 season where he won a National Title at 165. Redshirted this season (along with Carr Jr.) and will have three years of eligibility at Iowa State. He hasn't officially signed, but I talked to him in St. Louis and is very excited about being a Cyclone.

Covington is from Springfield, OR. Just another example that Sanderson is a better national recruiter than Brands. Most of Brands recruits come gift wrapped. Brands did have a nice find in Metcalf (who idolized Brands), but most of his recruits are Iowa guys that work out with Mark Reiland (Iowa City West HC) in the freestyle summer programs.

If he does end up coming, Iowa State's middle weights will be a lot better next season. Very good competition in the room as well.

157 Sanderson/Carr Jr.
165 Reader/Carr Jr./Covington
174 Covington/Reader

Sanderson probably is a better national recruiter than Brands, but on the other hand I think Iowa (the state, not school) wrestling is like Texas or Florida football in the fact you could field an all Iowan team and win the conference and national title.

I wonder how many of Gables teams had 8 or 9 out of 10 Iowans on it. I just hope we don't ignore the talent in this state to recruit other states and let Brands dominate the state of Iowa.

But you are right this is a huge pick up for us as I think the Hawks were recruiting him to fill the void being left by Perry.

**2020cy** · 03-26-2008, 09:55 AM

who do we have to replace Bert?

**cloneu** · 03-26-2008, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by Indyclone

Sanderson probably is a better national recruiter than Brands, but on the other hand I think Iowa (the state, not school) wrestling is like Texas or Florida football in the fact you could field an all Iowan team and win the conference and national title.

I wonder how many of Gables teams had 8 or 9 out of 10 Iowans on it. I just hope we don't ignore the talent in this state to recruit other states and let Brands dominate the state of Iowa.

But you are right this is a huge pick up for us as I think the Hawks were recruiting him to fill the void being left by Perry.

I tend to agree with the thought of ISU gets more guys from around the country and Iowa gets most of the Iowa kids. But at the same time they had 7 (125, 133, 141, 157, 174, 197, 285) guys from Iowa this year and turned out ok. You don't need to recruit to hard away from Iowa when you have all that talent withing about an hour of IC.

But back to CC, the Iowa fans are sure not happy that he is coming here, especially when they have a nice open spot at 165 for somebody like him.

**cloneu** · 03-26-2008, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by 2020cy

who do we have to replace Bert?

ISU2007 might know better, but I had heard that Varner might go up. Anybody know if that is gonna happen?

**Seth** · 03-26-2008, 10:23 AM

ISU2007, does this mean Spangler isn't coming here after all? You didn't have him listed in your position battle for 165 or 174, so I didn't know if that meant he wasn't coming, or if he just would be RS'ing.

**ISU2007** · 03-26-2008, 12:37 PM

Spangler will redshirt. He will battle for 165/174 in 2009-2010.

Varner will take over for Bert at 197. With a highly touted recruit coming in at 184. (Jerome Ward from Illinois)

**Cy Heavy** · 03-26-2008, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Indyclone

Sanderson probably is a better national recruiter than Brands, but on the other hand I think Iowa (the state, not school) wrestling is like Texas or Florida football in the fact you could field an all Iowan team and win the conference and national title.

I wonder how many of Gables teams had 8 or 9 out of 10 Iowans on it. I just hope we don't ignore the talent in this state to recruit other states and let Brands dominate the state of Iowa.

But you are right this is a huge pick up for us as I think the Hawks were recruiting him to fill the void being left by Perry.

That's pretty accurate, but there are other states that are starting to put more emphasis on wrestling programs (Texas and Ohio come to mind) and I'm glad to see CS pushing ISU wrestling nationwide as other states emerge as wrestling powers similar to Iowa. I'd like to see ISU maintain a blend of Iowa kids and out-of-staters.

**Seth** · 03-26-2008, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by ISU2007

Spangler will redshirt. He will battle for 165/174 in 2009-2010.

Varner will take over for Bert at 197. With a highly touted recruit coming in at 184. (Jerome Ward from Illinois)

Awesome, thanks for the info!

**cjbogler** · 03-26-2008, 08:08 PM

I just got back from Spring break in Florida and when i told people I was from Iowa, the only good things they could say were stuff about that quarterback we had (Wallace) back in the day and they asked why we were so good at wrestling as a state? This was coming from kids all across the country, so at least we have some national recognition for something and Im glad its wrestling. This just to further the point that Iowa has the BEST wrestlers!!

**Indyclone** · 04-07-2008, 01:17 PM

I'm hearing rumors that he is going to commit to Iowa on Wednesday. Anybody else hear this?

If true it's not a huge loss for us as we are set at 57 and 65, but it just made the Hawks that much tougher come next March. Hell I don't even care if he comes here because of what we have at these weights, but I really hope he doesn't go to Iowa.