A bunch of big things happened with Iowa during the time of the southern scuffle. Spencer Lee announced that he will not be returning to wrestle this season for the Hawkeyes which obviously caused a huge detriment for them.
At this time Iowa has two guys that could substitute for them at 125 pounds and those are Jesse Ybarra and Drake Ayala. If we are looking at this essentially what Iowa was looking to do is wait for Lee to graduate and have Ayala right off of redshirt and ready to fill in.
People most likely just looked past Drake Ayala thinking he could not do much this season but after this performance at the scuffle he can very well do a good job at 125 and possibly make the podium should he put it together.
At the scuffle he matched up against two top guys in Patrick McKee and Noah Surtin. He wrestled McKee in the championship bracket and he came out to an early lead but the All American was able to make a comeback and take out the freshman 6-5. McKee ended up winning the entire tournament getting an injury default over Killian Cardinale in the finals.
Possibly one of the best matches of the tournament went down in the consis between Ayala and Surtin of Mizzou. Surtin threw Ayala to his back early in the match for 6 points but Ayala’s pace took over and he was able to score a late takedown plus back points to ice the comeback.
The main question now is will Iowa pull Drake Ayala’s redshirt or do they keep him in reserve to possibly make a few runs at a title after Spencer Lee is gone.
