Takedown Report

5 wrestling freshmen who could compete for national titles this season

Four freshmen won men’s DI NCAA titles last year. These are the freshmen who will be pushing to make similar history this year. The Oklahoma State Cowboys made headlines at last year’s NCAA DI men’s wrestling tournament when they became the first team in NCAA history to put three true freshmen on the top of the podium. Stanford also crowned a freshman national champ, meaning that four of the ten title winners from last season conquered their brackets in just their first seasons as varsity athletes. Three of those four freshmen also had to top former champs in their weight classes as well in order to claim their crown. 
As the focus shifts to the start of the 2026-2027 college wrestling season, these are the rookies most likely to accomplish the same feat this year, ranked by weight class:  

Anthony Knox, 125 pounds, Rutgers

Rutgers’ Anthony Knox is the only freshman on this list who will be looking to win his first title in a weight class that returns its champion from 2026, making his task one of the most difficult ones in the country. But Knox earned his spot here because of his relentlessness, his gritty style and experience taking on the best in the world, and he’s ready to take that mindset to the college landscape and become the third Rutgers wrestler in history to win a national title.  
Knox, much like the other two Rutgers wrestling champs, comes to the Banks as a four-time state champion and a history of dominance in the Garden State. He posted a 144-1 record as a high school athlete and finished his career as the top-ranked athlete in his weight class in the country. Knox also has elite freestyle experience, finishing 11th at the U20 world championships in 2025 and earning a national team spot at 57kg this summer after picking up wins over All-American Liam Cronin, Vincent Kilkeary and Brody Teske. 
The biggest barrier standing between Knox and a national title is 2026 NCAA champion Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl, who has a win over Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee — an athlete who pinned and teched Knox — earlier this summer. Knox does have a career win over Lilledahl that dates back to 2021, so while Lilledahl has proven himself to be a steady, dependable champion and has put a gap between himself and the Scarlet Knight rookie since then, Knox has the talent to compete. Penn State and Rutgers will dual on January 9, giving fans the first look at how Knox stacks up against last year’s title winner and what he would need to do to close any gaps between January and March in order to become a freshman champ. 
The biggest name amongst this year’s class of freshmen is none other than Bo “Machine Gun Mindset” Bassett. The Pennsylvania native came to Virginia Tech as the highest ranked athlete in the Class of 2026 after a long recruiting process in which nearly every school in the country made a bid for him. Bassett has now settled into Blacksburg and immediately made a splash, earning a spot on the U20, U23 and now, most recently, senior world team at 65kg. He enters his first college season ranked No. 2 by FloWrestling and No. 5 by Intermat based on his wins in college opens against No. 9 Jaxon Joy at 149 pounds and No. 9 TK Davis at 133 pounds over his last two seasons as a high schooler. 
Bassett’s biggest competition will be No. 1 Luke Stanich of Lehigh, … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-10-05/5-wrestling-freshmen-who-could-compete-national-titles-season?lid=r9vbo48km6wu&primo=

October 9, 2026 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, ncaa-football, sports