• last year
Iowa Wrestling
Transcript
00:00 I don't feel like anybody's high stress, high strong, or anything like that.
00:04 I think, I mean, you gotta beat everybody to win a national title.
00:08 So I think everybody's ready to go, whether that competition's in the room or across the country.
00:16 Is it a good competition?
00:18 I mean, iron sharpens iron. Having the best guys in the room is what you want.
00:22 You want your toughest match to be in here and then to walk through the national tournament.
00:28 Have you gotten keener?
00:30 I've wrestled with him a little bit. He's obviously busy with football and stuff, but he's tough.
00:36 He's gonna be a good wrestler for the hour.
00:39 You talk about iron sharpens iron, the people in here. How is he making it?
00:43 He's a good deal. He's athletic, he's explosive, he's long.
00:48 He's not the type of body that I've had in here for a while.
00:52 So anytime I have the opportunity to, I'll have to wrestle with him.
00:57 How have you seen Drake high all of your life?
01:01 Wrestling. I think his body's healthier than it's ever been.
01:11 I think he's in great shape.
01:13 I think he's obviously got great partners in the room that have graduated and are still on the team.
01:20 I think he's poised for some great wrestling.
01:23 Does the level of urgency go up for you knowing this is your last go around?
01:28 I mean, no. It's the same as it's always been.
01:33 I want to compete at the highest level. I want to be prepared at the highest level.
01:38 Yeah, it's my last year, but it's not really any that different than any past years.
01:45 What do you have to do better to get to where you want to be at the end of the season?
01:50 Everything. I've been putting in a lot of work this summer, obviously.
01:56 I think I'm working my way there, and I think I'm the best I've ever been.
02:01 But I just need to continue improving as the season goes on.
02:06 To write your own story. You want to write your own narrative.
02:15 Don't let it be up to anybody else. Not any external circumstances or any external opinions.
02:22 Operate. Or, uh, operate. But write your story.
02:27 The main message that I've heard that's really impacted me has been to write your story.
02:33 My personality? Yeah, I definitely beat to my own drama.
02:36 I feel like I try to be the most me I can be, and I'm sure if anybody does that,
02:42 they're going to be a unique individual.
02:45 How that applies to my wrestling? My wrestling style is also unique.
02:50 It's not one thing or another. It's not just strength or speed.
02:55 It's all of it together, and I think that it's pretty well balanced.
03:01 Ultimately, though, the number one thing that I could say about my wrestling is my persistence,
03:06 and that applies to my personality as well.
03:09 I kind of had to, I wouldn't say share this a lot, but you're going to be Spencer Rapp, Spencer Richards.
03:14 I think people are kind of talking to you. Is that a fun role for you?
03:21 It's absolutely a fun role. You know, I enjoy putting on a show.
03:25 There's a big part in wrestling that needs to grow,
03:30 and part of putting on a show is my part that I can put into growing this sport.
03:36 There's been some uncertainty with the team.
03:39 How has the group as a whole really kind of handled some of the uncertainty that surrounds the beginning of the season?
03:47 Just really having a positive perspective on the whole thing
03:51 and understanding that it is what it is at the end of the day,
03:56 but you have to take the next step forward and keep moving on and keep pushing to where we want to be,
04:02 and that's at the top.
04:05 Could you be more specific on what the ups and downs were?
04:09 Yeah, it's a bit different.
04:12 You get nicked up. It's a tough sport. You have tough practices.
04:15 You get your butt kicked in the room, you know, in a room like this.
04:18 You get to take a lot of beatings.
04:20 I mean, it was good for me to learn, and then obviously I had some ups.
04:23 I had some good opens. I hit wrestle that too,
04:25 and I got to travel around with some coaches and some of the other red shirts and whatnot
04:30 and got to experience some of those opens, and that was good too.
04:34 What did you learn about yourself in the process?
04:38 It's a tough question.
04:39 I mean, I learned a lot about just what makes me tick really, and I had to get back to that.
04:44 Sometimes you get away if everything starts moving so quick that you forget to go back to how you grew up
04:52 and what made you tick when you were younger,
04:54 and I think I've been doing that a lot more recently and just having fun with it.
04:58 Drake, there's a lot of new faces on this team.
05:00 A lot of them we don't know if they're going to be here or not.
05:02 Do you feel like you have to be more of a leader?
05:08 Rephrase that real quick.
05:09 Because since you do have a lot of experience, you did have experience,
05:12 and now we have so many new people coming in here we don't know about,
05:15 some of them are going to be back, that type of thing.
05:18 Does it change your role at all?
05:20 I don't think it changes my role.
05:22 I think I've got to do my job every day regardless of what's going on with other people,
05:25 and so I've just got to keep staying the course, getting better each and every day,
05:29 and just leading by example.
05:31 Is it tough to be on the sidelines watching your team compete?
05:35 Yeah, it's super tough.
05:36 That's an underrated thing is a red shirt.
05:39 You've got to watch your team compete and you're like,
05:42 "Dang, I could really contribute here," but you can't really because you're a red shirt and whatnot.
05:46 Those new rules with the matches and whatnot are awesome.
05:50 Unfortunately, it didn't pertain to me last year, the only freshman, but it's an awesome rule.
05:55 Does it help to have a Fort Dodge teammate in Brody Teske?
05:58 Yeah, it's cool.
05:59 It's cool to have him here.
06:00 I mean, we grew up together, so just continuing to do what we do.
06:05 How do you feel physically?
06:06 I feel great.
06:07 I feel I'm healthy, I'm ready to go.
06:09 My weight's getting good and in check, and I'm feeling good, ready to go.
06:16 Just different experience.
06:18 I mean, when you come to a new program like this, an established program like this,
06:21 there's, I mean, different training, different techniques, a lot of different things.
06:25 I'm looking to help build who I am but not completely change who I am.
06:30 So bringing what's worked for me at NDSU and adding on here and there with world-level coaching
06:37 and practice partners.
06:38 Kelly Endo came down here with you.
06:40 Did that help?
06:41 Yeah.
06:42 I mean, it's a big adjustment for sure, but we live together and just having--we were together two years at NDSU,
06:49 so being able to kind of build that relationship made it a little bit easier of a transition here.
06:55 Had Tom recruited you back in high school or anything?
06:57 Did you--where would that connection start?
06:59 Yeah, I mean, they definitely watched me back in high school,
07:02 but I never took an official visit here back in high school.
07:07 Compare the fan bases.
07:09 NDSU has a fanatical fan base, of course, but have you figured out the fan base yet here?
07:14 Yeah, I mean, everybody knows Iowa wrestling and just passionate fans for every sport here,
07:21 so I'm excited to be able to wrestle in front of a crowd like that that I've never really had something like that.
07:27 You are a returning All-American.
07:29 It seems like this program really needs a returning All-American
07:32 because they don't know what's going to happen with some other guys.
07:34 Can you talk about maybe you're going to have to be more of a leader than maybe you expected?
07:38 Yeah, I mean, when I came here, I expected to be a leader, just holding myself to that standard.
07:43 That was a big thing for me back in my old school is not only being a leader on the mat and doing well,
07:48 but being a leader outside of it off the mat.
07:52 So when I came here, I knew one of my duties was going to be to help lead this team through experience
07:57 and hopefully show guys how hard I work and the way I approach a sport is kind of how it's worked for me,
08:07 and I think a lot of guys can find success following that path.
08:10 [laughter]
08:15 Just from NDSU to here, just talk about how exciting it is, I guess, just to be a Hawkeye.
08:20 Yeah, I mean, it's awesome to be here. I've got a lot of great partners and just excited to improve.
08:25 I've got great coaches behind me, so it's going to be a journey.
08:32 And since you've been here, I guess, what's been the impression of just being around the team this season?
08:37 What have you learned just quickly in the short time?
08:40 Yeah, I mean, a lot of technique for the coaches to give me, and everyone's a hard worker.
08:45 Everyone's out here to scrap, and I just think it's a good environment to be around.
08:50 Obviously, you transfer in with a teammate. Did you guys have conversations a little bit, or what was that kind of situation like?
08:57 Yeah, that was kind of the plan. I went to North Dakota State because of Jared Franek,
09:01 and I went in thinking he was going to be my training partner for the rest of his career.
09:07 When we found out our coach left, that was kind of our plan, was to go somewhere together.
09:13 …on the team that there are big opportunities, and every guy, something that Coach Bairns reminds us of every day,
09:19 that everybody needs to be ready, no matter what duel, whether we're wrestling Penn State or Cal Baptist.
09:23 It doesn't matter. Everyone needs to be ready. Everyone needs to be on weight.
09:26 Everyone needs to be on their A-game, all of that.
09:29 He constantly reminds us of that, and I truly and definitely do believe that to the heart.
09:35 What's been the biggest transition since working out here?
09:41 You've been at a high level anyway, but there's got to be some type of transition.
09:46 Yeah, for sure. I think for me, the big thing has just been time management, honestly.
09:51 Just finding time to recover after a hard practice, finding time to do schoolwork,
09:56 finding time to just be a kid at the end of the day, a freshman in high school, social life.
10:02 Just fitting in all those aspects of what comes with being a high-level college athlete, a student athlete, I should say.
10:09 You don't really think that they really matter that much, but when you're here and you're actually doing it on a daily basis,
10:17 you realize how much and how important that is to your overall well-being as a human being and your success as an athlete as well.
10:24 So I definitely think that's been the biggest transition for me since being here.
10:30 For one thing, your teammate Ben from high school, obviously he's falling out right now.