Rutgers Wrestling Off-Season Notebook I

Rutgers Wrestling had their season come to a close this past weekend at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships where they finished in 20th place with two All-Americans, Greg Bulsak (8th) and Sebastian Rivera (3rd).

It was an up and down season to be sure but bringing home two All-Americans for the seventh straight year (sixth NCAA Tournament) is a great accomplishment for Coach Scott Goodale and his Scarlet Knight program.

Throughout the offseason, I will publish notebooks summarizing the comings and goings of the team, whenever there is news to be had.

In recruiting land, the Scarlet Knights picked up another commitment from a standout New Jersey wrestler as senior Eric Freeman of Paramus High has decided to stay home and will head to the banks this fall.

Freeman is a two-time third place finisher at the NJ State Championships and took home titles at this season’s district and country tournaments.

Freeman competed at 165lbs this past season and projects to be at the same weight at Rutgers, a welcome addition to a weight where depth is and has been an issue for the Scarlet Knights.

In news around the current roster, 2021 All-American Jackson Turley who had season-ending surgery back in January announced on twitter he was granted a medical redshirt for this past season, so it will not count against his eligibility.

With the medical redshirt, the Virginia native Turley will have three years of eligibility remaining on the banks, music to the ears of RU Nation, who love the controlled chaos the Scarlet Knight 174lber brings to his matches.

Turley appeared in only seven matches during the 2021-22 campaign and was clearly not 100% in any of those matches. It should also be noted that Turley has a traditional redshirt still available should he or the team decide to use it in the future.

With their time on the banks ending, seniors Sebastian Rivera, Greg Bulsak, and Mike VanBrill each took to instagram to bid farewell to their collegiate careers:

Each wrestler, whether they donned a Scarlet singlet for their entire careers like VanBrill, or Rivera and Bulsak who came via the transfer portal, poured their hearts out for the Scarlet Knights, and should never have to buy a drink in New Brunswick again (or a protein shake in Bulsak’s case).

In more recruitment news, Brian Soldano, the inbound Rutgers commit who just finished an illustrious high school career where he captured three NJ State Championships, is already taking advantage of the NIL (name, image, likeness) program that is available to college students as he’s signed a sponsorship deal with Chop Sports Media.

It’s already time to renew your season tickets for next season and you can find more information about that here.