We are down to just a week left of preseason and we could not be more excited about getting the season started. We have a very good team returning and made some really nice additions with our recruiting class (as you have seen in the “featured freshman” series). There are several things that stand out to me this preseason, and I want to discuss a few of them: the cohesiveness of the team, the outstanding leadership, and accountability. This team is by far the closet team that I have ever had the privilege to be a part of; we are more than a team, we’re family. The guys on the team truly feel like a family and treat each other that way. The team chemistry is outstanding. There are not cliques or subgroups on the team. They do just about everything together and enjoy being around each other. The team bond has been very good the last couple of years, but this year is off the charts.
One thing we have talked about a lot this year is making the UB Wrestling Program a team full of leaders, which they have bought into. True freshman to fifth-year seniors have stepped-up and been great leaders this preseason. I do not have nearly enough time to talk about all the ways that various athletes on the team are leader, but I would like to highlight one in particular that has transformed himself into one of the best UB Wrestling captains in recent memory – Jimmy Hamel. Jimmy has been a captain for a couple of years now but this year in particular he has really stepped up his game. He is more motivated and driven than I have ever seen him. He had a rough finish to his season last year (he went 0-2 at nationals as he was winning both matches and they slipped away from him) but since that time, had rededicated himself to becoming an All-American. Jimmy has wrestled at 197 pounds the last four years, but this year he is cutting down to 184 pounds because it is best for not only him but for the team as well. Even though he has leaned himself down about ten pounds, he worked very hard in the weight room with our strength coach Nate Harvey. He spent a lot of time one-on-one with Nate to get stronger and it shows. It is always hard to drop down a weight class and it is even harder to drop down a weight class and get stronger. Jimmy has done exactly that and then some. Also, he has done a great job of holding others accountable (which I will discuss more below) and getting the others to buy in to everything we have done. Socially, he is doing everything in his power to be an All-American. He is getting proper sleep, eating better, and sacrificing more than ever. It never hurts to have three returning team captains (Hamel, Kevin Smith, and Desi Green) returning to provide leadership.
The guys on the team are holding each other accountable. John-Martin Cannon grabbed one of his teammates that was slacking-off at open room on Wednesday and pummeled him until he got back on track. At the end of the workout, the wrestler that was slacking off thanked Cannon for holding him accountable. Every day at the end of our preseason conditioning workouts, the guys grab a partner and do extra push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and sprints. They make each other do more and get better. Every run is a race that the guys compete hard to win. Every lift they are challenging each other (and they are challenging me as well).
We are excited about the upcoming year. I expect many records to be broken. Jimmy Hamel, Desi Green, Kevin Smith, and John Martin Cannon are our four returning National Qualifiers and all four are ready to All-American. Hamel will break 100 career wins in the first couple weeks of the season (he is sitting at 88 right now). Green is on pace to break 100 wins by the end of the season. Kevin Smith is as good as anyone in the country and can win a National Title. John Martin Cannon is going to surprise a lot of people and has made huge strides from last season and he is ready to win at the highest level. Several others are poised for breakout years, such as Andrew Schutt, Brian Sheehan, and Brett Correll. Schutt and Sheehan had two of the best off seasons of training at UB on the team. Correll is turning into a beast in the room. Look for a year that we are breaking records and putting multiple athletes on the All-American stand at the NCAA National Tournament.
Coach Beasley
