Wrestling Faces the Cameras on Media Day
10/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland wrestling team hosted its 2015 media day at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium Field Tuesday afternoon.
Head coach Kerry McCoy returns five starters and two NCAA qualifiers in the Terps' second year in the Big Ten. The program also adds a top-20 recruiting class that will provide an increased level of competition and talent to the squad.
“This is an exciting year coming up,” McCoy said. “We have some good leadership with our seniors and brought in 15 freshmen. It's going to be a good year and we're really looking forward to getting it rolling.”
Maryland once again faces a top-flight schedule that features some of the best teams in the country. The Terps will host Big Ten foes Nebraska (Dec. 11), Michigan State (Jan. 10), Wisconsin (Jan. 24) and Michigan (Feb. 5). The Wisconsin match will be broadcast live on the BTN.
The Terps travels to two of the top wrestling programs in the nation with Iowa (Nov. 20) and Minnesota (Jan. 8). A return trip to the Grapple at the Garden to face Illinois and Hofstra (Nov. 29) is another big part of Maryland schedule.
133-pound Geoffrey Alexander is the Terps' most accomplished returner. The Pittsburgh native has been nationally ranked for most of his career and will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the fourth straight season. He is joined by Lou Mascola (157) as NCAA qualifiers that return. Mascola won two matches at the NCAA's last season and wrestles with a crowd pleasing style.
Maryland's top redshirt last season Alfred “Baby J” Bannister will start at 141 pounds. The winningest wrestler in Maryland prep history, Bannister won 37 times in open competition last year, the most victories on the team.
Maryland opens its season Sunday with the sixth annual Terrapin Duals. The Terps take on Pittsburgh (11:45 a.m.), Buffalo (1:30 p.m.) and Davidson (3:15 p.m.).
Check out @kmac120's press conference and more coverage from Media Day! https://t.co/mcxzMFAgH6 #FearTheTurtle https://t.co/Fv0NHwRwMw
— Maryland Wrestling (@TerpsWrestling) October 27, 2015
Head Coach Kerry McCoy
On the biggest changes from the ACC to the Big Ten:
“It's the tradition that a lot of these programs bring; years and years of elite wrestling. I think the Big Ten has won the last 14 national championships in wrestling and in the last 20 years probably 16 out of the last 20. Big Ten wrestling means success. It's something outside of the Big Ten we had to fight for a long time. When you have a guy from the ACC and a guy from the Big Ten head-to-head, the guy from the Big Ten is always going to get more consideration. Now we can be the benefactor of that being in the conference we are now. We have to be ready for a battle every time. The Big Ten guys come hard every time. That's the biggest thing the amount of tradition and history those programs are bringing. For us it's been great. From the exposure being on the Big Ten Network and on the digital network. Our exposure has increased a lot and our recruiting class has been ranked anywhere from 12 to 18 so it has helped a lot.”
On the expectations this season:
“The expectations are to be better than we were last year. We have starters returning from last year and in theory they should be better. We've got some young hungry freshmen in to push those guys and they are going to help us get better. The schedule is a little bit different. Last year we had four of the top five preseason ranked teams and all those teams finished top six in the country. Every team we competed against in the Big Ten was ranked top 25. This year we have a different vibe in our schedule. We are not wrestling Penn State or Ohio State who were the two top teams last year so we get a different variety. That should make a difference. That attitude has also been better. No one was satisfied with what happened. They've put the work in to make sure it's been different.”
On Alfred “Baby J' Bannister:
“The great thing about Baby J is having that redshirt year he beat a ton of guys and had a lot of success, but he's got a lot of guys in his weight class that are going to push him. A lot of times you get a guy at that level and he's so far ahead of everybody else that he's not being challenged. Billy Rappo is a fourth year guy that's pushing him. We've got a transfer Ryan Diehl that was a two-time West Virginia state champ and a two-time Pennsylvania state champ and then went to Liberty University and won two national titles and was named outstanding wrestler both years. Those are the guys that are going to be pushing him.”
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