Colby Covington to Iowa State

[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

 

[scottie33]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

who do we have to replace Bert?

 

[cloneu]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[ISU2007]

I have heard the same bad news about Covington. I know Brands was in Fort Dodge (Iowa Central Community College) two weekends ago. I know that Brands wasn't offering much of a scholarship before, which was the reason Covington was thinking Iowa State. He must have upped his offer when he found out he might lose Covington to the cyclones.

Iowa is a better fit for Covington as the 165 pound slot is his for sure. At Iowa State, he would probably end up at 174 or at 165 beating out his friend Carr.

Still hoping Covington commits to ISU on Wednesday.

 

[JonDMiller]

"Just another example that Sanderson is a better national recruiter than Brands. Most of Brands recruits come gift wrapped."

Let's make a deal; Brands gets the best in the state of Iowa, and ISU can compete with the Ohio State's, the Oklahoma State's, the Minnesota's, the Penn State's, etc, for the best of the best around the rest of the Midwest.

Deal?

 

[Bobber]

Not so sure about that Jon. Cael did get that heavy weight out of Waverly.

 

[jahfg]

Covington is pretty much a done deal to the Hawkeyes. It is probably the best choice for him personally. As for us, it hurts to not only lose him, but lose him to an already stacked team. He will provide relief for them at 165. I think it is a two team race the next two seasons and this certainly didn't help. It sounds like Nate Carr Jr. is battling injuries. I hope someone can step up and be a solid 10-15 ranked 165. If we can fill that spot, we have a very tough lineup with:

125-Clark, national qualifier
133-Fanthorpe, 7th
141-Gallick, 5th
149-Mueller, 2x national qualifier
157-Sanderson, 7th
165-Carr, Sorenson, Spangler
174-Reader, 7th at 165
184-Ward, highly recruited out of Illinois
197-Varner, 2x finalist
HWT-Zabriskie, 6th place (should be in the 1-4 range next season)

 

[ISU2007]

Posted on thewrestlingtalk.com

Junior College national champion Colby Covington has decided to wrestle for head coach Tom Brands and the University of Iowa next season. Covington, who won the national title at 165 pounds for Iowa Central in 2007 and then redshirted this past season, will sign with the Hawkeyes on Wednesday.

"I really like the system they have up there," said Covington. "I trust Brands and the coaches and they're going to make me into the wrestler I want to be. I think Brands is an awesome coach and real passionate about making his wrestlers the best. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be the best and won't rest until I have done that."

Covington picked the Hawkeyes over Iowa State and Oklahoma State, among others, after watching Iowa's dominant performance at nationals in St. Louis last month. The Oregon native, who has three years of eligibility remaining, could fit into the lineup next season at 165, which will be wide open after the graduation of two-time national champion Mark Perry.

"I think it's the best place for me to meet the goals that I have, which is to be a three-time NCAA champ and Olympic champ." Covington said. "When you have nine other starters who have the same goal, then it's a process that's fun to see how good you can get in the rise to the top. "

Wrestling unattached during his redshirt year, Covington placed third at the Midlands in December. There, he lost in the quarterfinals to Iowa State's Jon Reader, but also beat two eventual NCAA qualifiers in Indiana's Matt Coughlin and Purdue's Luke Manuel. Covington may have the chance to meet up with them again in the Big Ten next season, where he looks forward to wrestling the Iowa style.

"I think I fit in well with the style they wrestle, which is to push the pace and dominate," said Covington. "There's nothing more that I like than to break people. I don't want to win, I want to dominate."

The late signing period for college wrestling opens this week on Wednesday, April 9. During the early signing period in November, the Hawkeyes added four in-state high school recruits in Nate Moore (125) from Iowa City West, Matt McDonough (130) from Linn-Mar, Mark Ballweg (135) from Waverly-Shell Rock, and Grant Gambrall (171) from Iowa City West.