Nick Feldman is a guy that some people had doubts about being the now #1 pound for pound wrestler in the country. Whether that be because they said he had an easy weight class or he just was not that good. He pretty much just shut down all of that talk.
In the Clarion Open quarterfinals he faced 2x NCAA Qualifier and #22 ranked Zachary Khighton-Ward of Hofstra. Khighton-Ward is a wrestler I was very high on in terms of potential with his massive frame and insane strength and also his ability to hit big moves on guys when he would get into upper body situations. Nick Feldman got all of his takedowns on some sort of low levels single variation with a variety of finishes. Khighton-Ward went to a lateral drop in the closing seconds giving Feldman an additional two points so I would not really count that against him. Even that being said the ending score was 9-3 with Feldman racking up 1:09 in riding time making it 10-3 which is absolutely insane.
Every big heavyweight that seems to come out of the high school rankings has something special about them and it seems that Nick Feldman is following in the footsteps of Kyle Snyder, and Gable Steveson in terms of how they had very good success right off the bat coming into college. Kyle Snyder making the NCAA Finals and taking out future 3x National Champion J’den Cox on the way there and Gable Steveson making a run to a 3rd place finish at the NCAA Tournament.
Personally I believe that Ohio State is the best choice that Feldman could have made in terms of colleges. Tate Orndorff is on pace to become a 3x All American this season in his final year of eligibility and after that if Feldman does not take a redshirt he will be there to move right in and take over as a freshman. At this point in time many of the older guys will be gone and on the senior level, but even with that being said he will add another smaller very athletic and versatile wrestler to the mix in an already stacked Big Ten conference.
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