By Joel Reichenberger, Sports editor
The news may not have been official — it still won’t be for a couple months in fact — but one glance around De Soto senior Neil Erisman’s home and there was no question about his collegiate future.
And with Oklahoma State University’s 33 team wrestling national championships and 125 individual NCAA titles, who can blame the De Soto senior for pre-empting the November signing day by more than eight weeks?
“I just really liked Oklahoma State, “Erisman said Tuesday after orally committing to wrestle for the Cowboys. “Of all the colleges I talked to, it was the best for me. My parents thought so to.”
His parents agreed so whole-heartedly, they quickly stocked up on OSU’s bright orange apparel.
“They’re pumped, “Erisman said.
Erisman has been a standout wrestler for the Wildcats since his freshman season, when he placed second in the Class 4A 145-pound division.
A year later he finished third in the 152-pound division and was again a runner up last winter.
His outstanding runs through the regular seasons, strong finishes in the state meet and work at tournaments around the nation was enough to draw the eye of the biggest names in collegiate wrestling.
Erisman had also talked with coaches from Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska and Virginia Tech, but once OSU entered the picture, the chase for Erisman was all but over.
“They came up to my house and talked to me, and I was pretty excited about it, “he said.
So excited that he didn’t even wait to take an official visit in October.
“I didn’t want to wait, “he said. “So I went down a couple of weeks ago.”
What he saw, he liked. After a couple weeks of weighing his options — Missouri and Nebraska had also already offered scholarships — Erisman made it official. He’s going to be a Cowboy.
“It really shows Neil’s potential, “De Soto wrestling coach Matt Jones said. “Oklahoma State’s obviously a great wrestling school. They have Olympians in that room down there, and they obviously like what they see.”
Even with so much time before signing day, Erisman said there’s no chance of his mind changing.
OSU coach John Smith (??) impressed Erisman with his forward, honest recruiting attack, even encouraging the multi-sport star to play football. Plus, Smith’s experience may allow Erisman a shot at his dreams.
“He’s just awesome, just an all around great guy, “Erisman said of Smith. “I wanted to go somewhere where I could get better. I want to keep competing after college. My ultimate goal is to win the Olympics. That’s been my goal since I was a little kid.”
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