WEDNESDAY SCRAMBLER THANKS ALEX MEYER

Before the newsy aspect of this post, let’s keep going with our series thanking the five Iowa seniors for their service to the Hawkeye wrestling program. Read Thomas Gilman’s, Cory Clark’s, and Topher Carton’s if you’d like. Alex Meyer is today, with Sammy Brooks closing up shop tomorrow.

As is the case with a fair amount of out-of-state students, my wrestling knowledge wasn’t (and still isn’t, mind you) superb heading into my freshman year at Iowa. It was so not-superb and/or mat-focused that Alex Meyer was the most prevalent name I heard in that first semester as a west-side dormitory resident.

More so than Matt McDonough, more so than Tony Ramos, et. al.

Why?

Two University of Iowa wrestlers were suspended from the team Wednesday after they admitted to illegally hunting rabbits on campus in hopes of making rabbit-skin caps, according to police.

Alex Meyer and Connor Ryan, both freshmen, were arrested Tuesday night after a security officer saw two men, including one with a long gun, near the nursing building, according to an incident report. Officers later found the two in Hillcrest Residence Hall and discovered rabbit skins in Meyer's dormitory.

And so begins the tale of Meyer’s Hawkeye career. In only his second year as the team’s full-time 174-pounder, the senior and potential soon-to-be medical student has amassed a 20-5 record in the regular season. He’s one-for-one at the NCAA Tournament in terms of hitting All-American status, and should find himself in the thick of things come time for Big Tens and NCAAs.

We’ve been blessed with talented 74 pounders in the Hawkeye lineup, most recently with Mike Evans and now Meyer. The latter may not possess the showmanship and excitement we saw with the former, but he’s been effective, damnit.

Is there much more that we can ask for? Sure, it’d be great to have a Valencia or Realbuto or Jordan out there, but that’s not the case. We should be thankful an All-American was waiting in the wings after Evans graduated, and be thankful for Meyer’s consistency at the weight.

By all accounts, he’s a great citizen and student and has even gone the extra mile — albeit unintentionally — to entertain us in hopes of varmint-based headwear.

Thanks for your service, Alex Meyer. We wish you the best of luck in all endeavors on the mat, with the rifle, and in the classroom.

In grapplin’ news: Nelson Brands — Terry’s son, a two-time state champ from IC West — committed to the Hawkeyes Monday. Before any specifics, let’s celebrate the formalization of a takedown machine coming to Iowa’s future lineup.

Brands was the state’s takedown leader with a whopping 454 of ‘em this season. Take this with a grain of salt, but it looks like he projects to slide in nicely as a 157-174 pounder depending on his growth. Weight aside, some future Hawkeye teams are getting a dangerous, high-pace grappler.

Hell, even this post-state championship interview had my blood pumping.

We likely won’t see him on the mat until the 2019-2020 season, but he should add onto a fun run of things in the next few years.

Our NWCA Natinal Duals coverage was lacking over the weekend as I was busy eating Primanti’s in Pittsburgh for three days, but our friends at GIA had a nice write up of the showcase. Match-by-match results are below for your viewing pleasure.

No. 4 Iowa 28, Edinboro 9

125 / No. 1 Thomas Gilman major dec. No. 9 Sean Russell, 10-2
133 / No. 4 Cory Clark major dec. No. 18 Korbin Meyers, 10-1
141 / No. 17 Topher Carton pinned Nate Hagan in 1:59
149 / No. 8 Pat Lugo dec. No. 3 Brandon Sorensen, 7-5 SV
157 / No. 2 Michael Kemerer major dec. Chase Delande, 16-6
165 / No. 9 Austin Matthews dec. No. 16 Joey Gunther, 4-1
174 / No. 8 Alex Meyer dec. Ty Schoffstall, 11-7
184 / No. 3 Sammy Brooks major dec. No. 16 Dakota Geer, 14-4
197 / Cash Wilcke dec. Dylan Reynolds, 6-2
HWT / No. 15 Billy Miller dec. Steven Holloway, 6-1

Iowa-IU was the first Hawkeye hoops game I’ve been able to catch from start-to-finish this season. Fran’s guys were pretty fun to watch — looked like a bunch of talented players seemingly without a real idea how to play together learning to play together as the game went on. We love that stuff!

Pair Christian Williams’ ability to touch his knees with his fingertips and Tyler Cook being a slam dunk champion and this was a pleasant surprise for yours truly. Oh, Pete’s a great free-throw shooter too.

Obligatory.

End transmission.