From the Daily O’Collegian student paper at Oklahoma State
Two Cowboy true freshmen to debut against Michigan State
Greg Dickinson
Asst. Sports Editor
By Greg Dickinson
Asst. Sports Editor
Chris Pendleton is the defending national champion at 174 pounds, but the senior still remembers wrestling his first match as a Cowboy.
“I got pulled out against Joe Heskett from Iowa State,” said Pendleton, when asked about coming out of redshirt his freshman year. “He was ranked No. 1 in the nation, undefeated at Iowa State, and I got whipped pretty bad.”
The Cowboys will bring out two redshirts tonight when they take on Michigan State at 7 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Coleman Scott at 125 pounds, and Nathan Morgan at 133 pounds will make their debuts in orange singlets, and Pendleton said he has shared his experiences with both of them and is confident they are ready to go.
“I’ve come pretty close to both of them,” Pendleton said. “I told them my experiences of when I was a true freshman. Around this time, I came out of redshirt my true freshman so I know exactly everything they’re going through. Starting as a true freshman for a program like this, that’s an achievement in itself. But they both are really hungry and really mature for their age and I really see them being very successful. It’s not like they’re just throwing them out there to the wolves. We expect them to win and they expect themselves to win.”
OSU coach John Smith said the Cowboys have had a good year from their 125 and 133 pound wrestlers, but the Cowboys must put the best guys out on the mat.
“We feel as a staff, at this point, we must put the best guys in the lineup for us to focus on the remainder of the season and have the best possible team at the end,” Smith said. “We feel, at this point, this is what we need to do.”
Scott, from Waynesburg, Pa., is 16-2 wrestling in just open tournaments for the Cowboys, and Morgan, from Bakersfield, Calif., is 17-0 while wrestling in open tournaments.
Smith said both have done the right things in the wrestling room to earn their chances to wrestle for the Cowboys, and he is confident both will succeed but he does not want to put much pressure on them.
“Without building them up too much, it’s just kind of wait and see and I’m sure that their upside for the remainder of the season, I think is, very high,” Smith said.
Scott wrestles No. 3 ranked Nick Simmons from MSU and Smith said he will need to wrestle hard.
“Obviously, it’s a tough start for Coleman Scott, but there’s not a better start you can have, against one of the best guys in the weight class,” he said. Competing well and competing hard will be very important for him.”
The Cowboys wrestle the Spartans tonight and the Iowa Hawkeyes Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Both teams are quality opponents and Smith said these are the types of matches Scott and Morgan came to OSU to wrestle.
“They’ve both got the right attitude as we address these matches and, again, these are the matches they came here for,” Smith said.
The Cowboys have not wrestled since Dec. 22 and not in Stillwater since the season opening duals back on Nov. 14.
Smith said the Cowboys have used the layoff to turn it up a notch in practice.
“We worked very hard as a team, probably as hard as we ever worked in my coaching career,” he said when asked what the Cowboys did with the extra time after the MSU match was canceled Jan. 6 because of bad weather.
“I don’t see hard work as ever being a negative. If anything, it’s allowed us to extend our training out and continue to improve conditionally as well as endurance wise.”
Pendleton said the long layoff has been good for the Cowboys but the team is ready to get back on the mat.
“Everybody is starting to get real anxious to get out there and wrestle somebody that’s not on the team,” he said.
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