Nebraska finishes in Top 10 in FloWrestling’s annual recruiting rankings for fifth-straight year

The Huskers put together another solid Recruiting Class for 2021 and find themselves ranked No. 8 in FloWrestling’s annual Recruiting Class Rankings.

FloWrestling 2021 Recruiting Class Rankings

1. Penn State (4 total signees/3 in Top 100)

2. Arizona State (7/5)

3. Iowa (6/3)

4. NC State (9/5)

5. Cornell (11/5)

6. Oklahoma State (9/3)

7. Minnesota (8/5)

8. Nebraska (5/2)

9. Oklahoma (5/2)

10. Northwestern (3/3)

11. Maryland (8/4)

12. Ohio State (5/2)

13. Wisconsin (6/2)

14. Virginia Tech (4/2)

15. Northern Colorado (9/3)

16. North Dakota State (15/4)

17. South Dakota State (8/2)

18. Michigan (5/1)

19. North Carolina (5/2)

20. Iowa State (9/3)

Not surprisingly, Penn State and Iowa pace the Big Ten in the rankings, coming in No. 1 and 3, respectively. The Nittany Lions brought in one of the country’s smallest classes with just four wrestlers, but two of those are No. 2-ranked Alex Facundo and No. 4 Shayne Van Ness. Iowa’s Class is led by the No. 5 pound-for-pound wrestler in the country Drake Ayala.

Who’s in Nebraska’s Class?

Nebraska’s 2021 recruiting class is highlighted by a pair of Pennsylvania boys in Lenny Pinto and Jagger Condomitti. Pinto is ranked No. 11 overall while Condomitti isn’t far behind at No. 13.

Pinto is currently ranked as the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 182 pounds despite missing his senior year with a knee injury he suffered while competing at FloWrestling’s Who’s No. 1 event in October. Despite the knee injury, Pinto beat Rylan Rogers 7-5. Pinto bumped up in weight to face Rogers, who is currently No. 2 in the country at 195 pounds.

Pinto won a Pennsylvania state title as a junior in 2020 and finished his prep career with a 118-18 record. He projects at 184 pounds in college, so he could be Nebraska’s future after Taylor Venz leaves, although Nebraska is stocked up in the upper weights with young talent like Nathan Haas that Pinto will need to beat out once on campus.

Condomitti just finished an undefeated senior year, culminating in his first state championship after falling in the finals as a junior. Condomitti is the No. 4-ranked wrestler in the country at 160 pounds and finished his high school career with a 141-26 record.

Just like Pinto, Condomitti also competed in October at Who’s No. 1 but fell to Victor Voinovich 4-3. Voinovich is ranked No. 2 at 152 pounds and is heading to Oklahoma State.

Condomitti projects at 165 pounds in college, but by the time he gets to Lincoln it’s possible he’ll end up at 174. And with no clear replacement for Mikey Labriola on the roster, that would be a best-case scenario for Nebraska in a couple years.

Husker fans will have to wait at least a year before seeing Pinto or Condomitti in a Husker singlet however, as both are heading to Colorado Springs to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center while taking a grayshirt year. They’ll come in as true freshmen in the fall of 2022. With their talent and a gap year spent at the OTC, I expect big things from these two.

Nebraska elected to go with a relatively small class this year due to the NCAA’s decision to give an extra year of eligibility to all wrestlers, but the Huskers were still able to add some solid depth outside of the two headliners to this class.

The Huskers brought in a pair of the best wrestlers out of the home state in Josh Licking and Scott Robertson.

Licking, a Norfolk native, finished his senior year with a 31-1 record with his lone loss coming to future teammate Antrell Taylor in the state final. Robertson also had a stellar senior year with Millard South, finishing runner-up at state with a 47-2 record on the year.

Licking will join the Husker program this fall, while Robertson will join in the fall of 2023 after a two-year Mormon mission.

Rounding out this year’s class is Adam Thebeau. A lesser knows recruit out of Illinois, Thebeau finished fifth at state in Illinois the past two years for Bellevue East High School.

Model of Consistency

Nebraska doesn’t generally compete for the very top spot in the recruiting class rankings, but that doesn’t mean the Huskers haven’t been one of the best in the country on the trail.

Nebraska is the only program that’s been ranked in the Top 10 of the rankings each of the past five seasons. Penn State can’t claim that. Neither can Iowa.

Nebraska’s classes have been ranked No. 5 in 2017, No. 8 in 2018, No. 5 in 2019, No. 6 in 2020 and No. 8 in 2021.

And the Huskers are off to an impressive start to their 2022 class, as both of their current commits are nationally ranked. Antrell Taylor is the No. 12-ranked wrestler in the country at 160 pounds. Taylor, a senior-to-be at Millard South in Omaha, will be looking for his third state title before heading to Lincoln.

Nebraska’s other commit is Harley Andrews out of Oklahoma. The two-time state champ will also be going for his third straight after winning at 220 pounds this year. Andrews is ranked No. 5 in the country at 220 pounds and looks to be Nebraska’s future at heavyweight.