No. 15 Wrestling Opens 2021 Season Friday against No. 3 Michigan

Friday, January 8

7 PM

Rutgers

Michigan

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

No. 15 Wrestling Opens 2021 Season Friday against No. 3 Michigan

Jan 06 | Wrestling

TV: BTN/FOX Sports App Radio: WRSU Scott Goodale Season Preview Press Conference Week 1 Notes: Michigan

Home dual at RAC slated for national broadcast on BTN

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 15 Rutgers wrestling begins an unprecedented 2021 season Friday against No. 3 Michigan at the RAC. The 7 p.m. dual is slated for a national broadcast on BTN, with Ray Flores and Tim Johnson on the call. WRSU (88.7 FM) will provide live radio coverage of the top-15 matchup. The dual is closed to the general public.

Pegged as high as No. 10 in the country to begin the season under 14^th-year head coach Scott Goodale, the Scarlet Knights are slated for a six-date, nine opponent Big Ten Conference schedule leading into the Big Ten and NCAA championships. Friday's season opener is the latest start to a dual season for RU since 2000, when it opened with East Stroudsburg on Jan. 12, 2000 in New Brunswick.

What's Different This Season?

• No Fans at the RAC: In accordance with the state of New Jersey's current restrictions on indoor gatherings, no fans will be permitted inside the RAC for Rutgers' three home dates. With a season-ticket base of more than 3,000, the Scarlet Knights have finished top-5 in national attendance since the 2015-16 season.
• Blanket Eligibility: With the NCAA granting a blanket waiver for 2020-21 winter sports, all wrestlers will be eligible to compete in varsity action this season without losing the ability to redshirt.
• Big Ten Regular Season Matches Only: The Big Ten Conference will only compete amongst itself until the NCAA Championships, slated for March 18-20 in St. Louis.
• Extra Matches: Due to only wrestling inside the conference, the Big Ten will permit schools to hold extra matches on competition dates. Though they will not count towards dual scoring, they will count towards an individual's varsity record for purposes of seeding for the conference and national tournament.

What to Know

• Team Rankings: Rutgers appears ranked as high as No. 10 (FloWrestling, TrackWrestling) to begin the 2021 season. RU is also pegged No. 15 in the first NWCA Coaches Poll and No. 17 by Intermat.
• Individual Rankings: Ten Scarlet Knights are ranked in at least one national wrestling publication leading into Friday's match against Michigan. Three student-athletes – Nicolas Aguilar (125), Sebastian Rivera (141) and Joseph Grello (174) – are ranked by Intermat, FloWrestling and The Open Mat, as Rivera earned a No. 1 ranking at 141 pounds by FloWrestling. Sammy Alvarez (133) is ranked as high as No. 6 (Intermat, The Open Mat), while Billy Janzer (197) is ranked as high as No. 14 (FloWrestling) after bumping up a weight class.
• Sebastian Rivera Set for Rutgers Debut: Two-time All-American, two-time Big Ten Champion and New Jersey native Sebastian Rivera is scheduled to make his Rutgers' debut on Friday. Rivera, who was recently named USA Wrestling's Athlete of the Week after his win at Battle on the Banks last weekend, produced 73 varsity wins during his career at Northwestern and most recently captured his second Big Ten Conference individual title last March at the RAC.
• Nick Suriano Begins Season Training Freestyle: 2019 NCAA Champion Nick Suriano will begin the 2021 season training freestyle away from the program and is scheduled to compete for Team USA from Jan. 15-17 in Nice, France. Still enrolled, Suriano is currently ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds by FloWrestling and TrackWrestling.
"Nick has our full support as he explores every opportunity to train freestyle in pursuit of his Olympic dreams," Goodale said. "If he decides to return to collegiate wrestling this season, we look forward to watching him excel in a Rutgers' singlet."
• 2019-20 Rewind: With its 10-7 dual record last season, Rutgers finished with its 14^th consecutive winning season and was ranked in the final coaches poll for the ninth time during Goodale's tenure. The Scarlet Knights qualified five or more wrestlers to nationals for the sixth consecutive season, as Aguilar and Alvarez were named NWCA All-Americans due to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Championships. RU also hosted a successful 2020 Big Ten Championships, which drew close to 20,000 fans over the course of two days last March, and finished top-5 in national attendance (4,492 per home dual) for the fifth consecutive season.

No. 15 Rutgers Projected Lineup

125: 20/19/15 Nicolas Aguilar* OR Dylan Shawver
133: 6/NR/6 Sammy Alvarez* OR Devon Britton
141: 4/1/3 Sebastian Rivera***
149: Gerard Angelo OR Michael VanBrill*
157: NR/NR/24 Robert Kanniard OR Cody Harrison
165: Brett Donner OR Connor O'Neill
174: 19/22/13 Joseph Grello* OR Jackson Turley
184: John Poznanski
197: NR/14/20 Billy Janzer* OR Kyle Epperly
HWT: Christian Colucci OR Alex Esposito

No. 3 Michigan Projected Lineup

125: No. 13/14/12 Jack Medley* OR Dylan Ragusin
133: No. 2/3/2 Stevan Micic***
141: NR/NR/20 Drew Mattin** OR Pat Nolan
149: No. 6/8/6 Kanen Storr** OR Cole Mattin
157: No. 9/11/10 Will Lewan* OR Fidel Mayora
165: No. 17/16/16 Cameron Amine OR Layne Van Anrooy
174: No. 2/2/3 Logan Massa*** OR Max Maylor OR Jaden Bullock
184: Joseph Walker
197: Andrew Davison OR JT Correll
HWT: No. 2/2/2 Mason Parris** OR Luke Ready

Rankings: Intermat/FloWrestling/TheOpenMat
* denotes past NCAA qualification

Scouting Michigan

• The Wolverines enter Friday ranked No. 2 by FloWrestling and No. 3 in the coaches' poll after it finished 7-6 a year ago.
• Michigan will bring seven student-athletes with NCAA Championships experience, which includes three-time All-American Stevan Micic (133) and 2020 Big Ten runner-up Mason Parris (HWT). Eight members of Michigan's lineup are ranked in at least one national poll, including five in the top-10 – No. 2 Parris, No. 3 Micic, No. 2 Logan Massa (174), No. 6 Kanen Storr (149) and No. 9 Will Lewan (157).
• Four Michigan returnees – Lewan, Parris, Storr and Jack Medley (125) – qualified for nationals last season before the championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Michigan is led by third-year head coach Sean Bormet.

Last Time against the Wolverines

• Despite working a five-five match split, including a win from Janzer over a top-15 opponent, No. 23 Rutgers lost to No. 25 Michigan, 21-16, on Feb. 1, 2020 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Scarlet Knights worked four consecutive victories out of intermission to take a 16-15 lead heading into the final match at heavyweight, but a pin from UM's No. 2 Mason Parris coupled with bonus-point wins at 141 and 149 pounds secured the dual for the Wolverines.

More about the Series

• Rutgers is 0-5 all-time against Michigan, which includes a 0-4 mark in Big Ten Conference action.
• The programs first met way back on Dec. 13, 1958, a 17-11 victory in favor of the Wolverines.
• Current Associate Head Coach Donny Pritzlaff spent three seasons on staff at Michigan from 2011-13.

Up Next

Rutgers hosts No. 2 Penn State on Saturday, Jan. 16 at the RAC. Television and streaming coverage, as well as the time of the dual will be announced at a later date.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers wrestling, follow the program on Twitter (@RUWrestling) and Instagram (@RUWrestling). Fans can receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on our social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com. For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.