Otten fares well in Edinboro wrestleoffs

Go ahead, keep on doubting James Otten.
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.

Why I decided to continue this blog

Well, it looks like Knop's Knotes is back.
There was some real doubt about whether or not I would continue the blog.
Despite its popularity - and I've heard from so many people in the wrestling community how much they enjoy it (as well as a few things I can do better) - I really considered discontinuing it.
It had nothing to do with my willingness or desire to write it. I had a lot of fun in the blog's first season.
But, for those of you who don't know, I was promoted to editor of The Tribune-Democrat this spring. That means more responsibility and more hours than I was working as Internet editor last wrestling season.
Compound that with the fact that my wife and I had agreed to serve as a billet or host family for three of the Johnstown Tomahawks hockey players and the concept of "free time" disappeared really quickly.
But, in the end (more accurately the end of the wrestling "offseason") I couldn't stay away from the sport I love. I keep hearing from fans and wrestlers about what's going on in their world and I start thinking about how I want to share it with the rest of the wrestling community.
The draw of the sport and, more importantly, the wonderful people involved in it, is too strong.
So I will continue to do what I can to keep you updated on what's happening in the wrestling world, or at least our little corner of it.
If you have info for me, feel free to email me at eknopsnyder@tribdem.com.
Thanks for reading and finding a way to pull me back into the world's oldest and greatest sport.