The former Shade wrestler, who went to school at Windber, faced plenty of critics who said his stats were padded by the Panthers' soft schedule.And when Otten committed to wrestle at Edinboro, there likely were more than a few raised eyebrows.
But, a few weeks into his freshman season with the Fighting Scots, the Wolf-man doesn't look out of place at all. In fact, he had quite the showing at the Edinboro wrestleoffs last weekend.* Competing at 157 pounds, Otten made his bid to move up the depth chart. He went 3-1, with a 13-3 major decision over fellow freshman Sebastian LaRocca. He also beat Zac Baumgartner - son of four-time Olympic medalist and former Edinboro/current A.D. Bruce Baumgartner - twice.
His lone loss was 8-1 to returning starter Casey Fuller, who might redshirt this year.
Otten got word on Tuesday that the coaching staff wants to redshirt him this season. That's not at all unexpected or a bad thing in any way. It will give him - as it does with most DI freshman - the chance to catch up to some of his older competition as well as adapting to the college lifestyle. Although, according to Otten's father, the second part doesn't seem to be a problem. He said that Otten is well on his way to a spot on the dean's list.
* -- The Edinboro results that I linked to are incorrect, according to Otten's father. I've gone with the results that his father told me.
No comments:
Post a Comment