Careers that could have been..

[Mphillips 1,829]

7 hours ago, EM_1996 said:

What's the back story on this?  It seems quite odd that a guy who some claim was a generational talent just decides to give it up after high school and not even attempt to take advantage of the educational opportunities his talent could unlock.

I echo what schute wrote. We all were waiting on him to go to OSU and it didn't happen and then he just never wrestled...

Phillips was a 171lb freshman at Ironman that wrestled nationally ranked Corey Peltier ( Beast of the East champ, Cadet Nationals champ,  and FILA Cadet Nationals champ), the #1 ranked wrestler in DII in OH, Zac Thomusseit, and the nation's #1 171lber,  Brian Roddy from STED. Phillips had 10 takedowns to zero in those three matches and was never scored on. That was his freshman year. Seems, "generational" enough to me. 

[juniorvarsity 22]

10 hours ago, Mphillips said:

I echo what schute wrote. We all were waiting on him to go to OSU and it didn't happen and then he just never wrestled...

Phillips was a 171lb freshman at Ironman that wrestled nationally ranked Corey Peltier ( Beast of the East champ, Cadet Nationals champ,  and FILA Cadet Nationals champ), the #1 ranked wrestler in DII in OH, Zac Thomusseit, and the nation's #1 171lber,  Brian Roddy from STED. Phillips had 10 takedowns to zero in those three matches and was never scored on. That was his freshman year. Seems, "generational" enough to me. 

He went to NC State and redshirted. I had a good friend in his recruiting class. I know that Phillips thought that NC State was his most fun recruiting trip. It made no sense that he chose NC State. NC State was absolutely horrible before Popolizio and Phillips could have probably gone to any school he wanted. I do recall my friend saying that Phillips did not enjoy wrestling, but that is hearsay and I am not certain. I recall some unfortunate events occurred over spring break or maybe summer break that changed everything for him. NC State then cleaned house the following his redshirt year when Pop took over. Not sure exactly how it all went down and if Popolizio was the reason he was off the roster or if he did not have a team prior to his arrival to NC State. Any kid that had any issues with getting in trouble was off the team with Popolizio got there. Basically only Tommy Gantt stayed.

[Schuteandscore 170]

1 hour ago, juniorvarsity said:

He went to NC State and redshirted. I had a good friend in his recruiting class. I know that Phillips thought that NC State was his most fun recruiting trip. It made no sense that he chose NC State. NC State was absolutely horrible before Popolizio and Phillips could have probably gone to any school he wanted. I do recall my friend saying that Phillips did not enjoy wrestling, but that is hearsay and I am not certain. I recall some unfortunate events occurred over spring break or maybe summer break that changed everything for him. NC State then cleaned house the following his redshirt year when Pop took over. Not sure exactly how it all went down and if Popolizio was the reason he was off the roster or if he did not have a team prior to his arrival to NC State. Any kid that had any issues with getting in trouble was off the team with Popolizio got there. Basically only Tommy Gantt stayed.

I somewhat remember that, and I believe after this, the rumor was he was joining the other 3 at Oh State, but it never happened.  Sad to see 

[gwoodburn133 0]

On 3/27/2020 at 2:29 PM, TobusRex said:

Tony Cook from Perry, Oklahoma. He was a 3 time state HS champ in Oklahoma in the 80's, and was a FS World Champ (Cadet or Junior, can't remember which).  I guarantee John Smith knows Tony Cook (at least by reputation). Don't know what happened to Tony, if he got HEW or something else, I never heard of him accepting  any wrestling scholarships or saw any results for him after he graduated from HS.

Tony Cook is my neighbor in the hallway. He tells me he went to NC State right out of HS. Not sure what happened there. 

[Idaho 1,400]

43 minutes ago, gwoodburn133 said:

Tony Cook is my neighbor in the hallway. He tells me he went to NC State right out of HS. Not sure what happened there. 

Is he still involved in wrestling? BTW your dad and Baze coached me in several camps back in the day. Great guy. 

[Mphillips 1,829]

3 hours ago, Schuteandscore said:

I somewhat remember that, and I believe after this, the rumor was he was joining the other 3 at Oh State, but it never happened.  Sad to see 

He was the #3 overall recruit that year I believe...

[jp157 561]

11 hours ago, juniorvarsity said:

He went to NC State and redshirted. I had a good friend in his recruiting class. I know that Phillips thought that NC State was his most fun recruiting trip. It made no sense that he chose NC State. NC State was absolutely horrible before Popolizio and Phillips could have probably gone to any school he wanted. I do recall my friend saying that Phillips did not enjoy wrestling, but that is hearsay and I am not certain. I recall some unfortunate events occurred over spring break or maybe summer break that changed everything for him. NC State then cleaned house the following his redshirt year when Pop took over. Not sure exactly how it all went down and if Popolizio was the reason he was off the roster or if he did not have a team prior to his arrival to NC State. Any kid that had any issues with getting in trouble was off the team with Popolizio got there. Basically only Tommy Gantt stayed.

Phillips was a known HEW and every coach I knew said he wouldn’t make it in college before he ever stepped on the mat 

[lu_alum 924]

On 5/13/2022 at 5:48 PM, ResiliteMarine said:

Tim Darling, Garrett Scott (RIP), Nathan Galloway all 3X PA Champs. Throw in a Alton. All went to PSU.

Thomas Haines, 4X PA champ went to Lock Haven couple time NQ, but no hardware.

 

Haines committed to PSU, but Carl reneged.

[snapspinscore 44]

9 hours ago, lu_alum said:

Haines committed to PSU, but Carl reneged.

Haines committed himself to PSU, and was not heavily recruited by Cael to begin with. It wasn't some reneged situation, Haines just thought he belonged there.

[Idaho 1,400]

1 hour ago, snapspinscore said:

Haines committed himself to PSU, and was not heavily recruited by Cael to begin with. It wasn't some reneged situation, Haines just thought he belonged there.

True... he was heavily recruited by Cunningham. 

[steamboat_charlie v2 1,175]

20 hours ago, jp157 said:

Phillips was a known HEW and every coach I knew said he wouldn’t make it in college before he ever stepped on the mat 

It wasn't exactly hard to figure that one out.  There was a little bit more going on than HEW. 

[jp157 561]

51 minutes ago, steamboat_charlie v2 said:

It wasn't exactly hard to figure that one out.  There was a little bit more going on than HEW. 

I was being nice 

[TripNSweep 797]

On 5/13/2022 at 10:18 AM, Schuteandscore said:

I wrestled Duyn my sophomore year in college, he was a freshman at the West Virginia Open.  I didn’t know who he was just that he was from the Citadel and I went up quick on him 8-1 after the first period.  From then on he hit a series of throws and we had a shootout and he ended up beating me 24-19.  I was stunned but impressed with his crazy comeback, especially for a freshman in one of the first tournaments of the year.

 

[tigerfan 228]

Philipps situation sounds as if it might have been similar to Max Shanaman. Max was a highly ranked east coast kid from Blair, part of Mizzou’s first monster recruiting class, iirc, perhaps the one with Dom Bradley? Anyway, he showed up and it was immediately apparent he had a serious alcoholism issue that was clearly tolerated while a star at Blair. Mizzou staff helped him get clean and he went on to become a successful Navy Seal. I hope Phillips had similar people in his corner and helped him recognize that there is life beyond wrestling. 

[olddirty 347]

You guys are nuts calling NCAA champs "coulda beens" lol.  The Henry Cejudo one I know was in jest and pretty funny though

[Oregon Guy 0]

ST Benedict's and Mike Caruso's younger brother Fred.  Won Preps in '65 (2nd in '64). 

[TripNSweep 797]

On 6/2/2022 at 9:25 AM, olddirty said:

You guys are nuts calling NCAA champs "coulda beens" lol.  The Henry Cejudo one I know was in jest and pretty funny though

There was a thread about whether Cejudo would come back to wrestle in college to try to win an NCAA title and speculation on how he would do. I think winning an NCAA title is kind of beneath him. There wouldn't be any point. There is a pretty short list of guys with Olympic medals who never accomplished much in college. I would guess probably all of them would rather keep the Olympic medal than trade it for college achievements. 

[ShakaAloha 433]

3 hours ago, TripNSweep said:

There was a thread about whether Cejudo would come back to wrestle in college to try to win an NCAA title and speculation on how he would do. I think winning an NCAA title is kind of beneath him. There wouldn't be any point. There is a pretty short list of guys with Olympic medals who never accomplished much in college. I would guess probably all of them would rather keep the Olympic medal than trade it for college achievements. 

This.  No point for Henry to wrestle in college after he won the Olympics.

[Antitroll2828 1,008]

3 hours ago, ShakaAloha said:

This.  No point for Henry to wrestle in college after he won the Olympics.

Was there no point for Kyle Snyder to wrestle after he won the Olympics? I mean hell he even lost a match after he was world and Olympic champ 

[DocBZ 197]

Bo Jordan had he not had his foot injuries/tumors and not gotten married. They hype during his true freshman year was incredible based on this previous thread. He seemed to go downhill after that year.

 

 

 

[ShakaAloha 433]

15 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Was there no point for Kyle Snyder to wrestle after he won the Olympics? I mean hell he even lost a match after he was world and Olympic champ 

I was talking about Henry not Kyle.  Different situation.

[Casper 110]

Mark Schultz. If he had gone to Oklahoma and redshirted instead of attending UCLA his first year he might have been a 4x Champ.