Wrestling: A Look at Nebraska’s 2021 Recruiting Class

Nebraska has a seriously solid start on its 2021 recruiting class. Head Wrestling Coach Mark Manning and Associate Head Coach Bryan Snyder have been doing work the last few seasons on the recruiting front, and they’ve continued that this season.

The Huskers own only two commitments, but for what they lack in numbers they make up for with quality. Nebraska owns commitments from Jagger Condomitti and Lenny Pinto. Both are Pennsylvania boys, and if you didn’t know, Pennsylvania is a wrestling hotbed. Kind of like Texas for football.

A Pennsylvania man himself, Snyder has shown an ability to go into the state and pull top-tier talent. Mikey Labriola, a junior-to-be at 174 pounds and an All-American for Nebraska, is from Pennsylvania as well. And both Condomitti and Pinto have said Snyder and Labriola were influential in their recruitment.

So let’s see what these two future Huskers have been up to.

Jagger Condomitti

Jagger Condomitti is the top-rated wrestler in the country at 152 pounds by FloWrestling. He’s projected as a 165 or 174-pounder in college. The Northampton High School senior-to-be, Condomitti has already put together a very impressive resume on the mat.

Condomitti holds a career 125-26 record after finishing 4th at the Pennsylvania State Championships as a sophomore then finishing runner-up this year as a junior. He lost a 3-2 decision to Cole Handlovic, who will be a freshman at Cornell this upcoming season. Against the No. 38 overall recruit in the class of 2020, Condomitti showed well.

Condomitti has a plethora of accomplishments outside of high school wrestling as well, highlighted by All-American status at the 2018 Fargo Cadet National Championships, gold at the 2019 Journeyman World Classic, a 7th-place finish at Super 32 and a runner-up finish at the 2019 Beast of the East Tournament.

Here’s Condomitti defeating Shayne Van Ness at the 2018 Fargo tournament. Van Ness is listed as the No. 2 pound-for-pound recruit in the country in this class, and he just announced his commitment to Penn State yesterday. So this is potentially a matchup we’ll see a lot in the coming years.

I know you probably don’t know any of these high school tournaments, but they’re some of the premier high school age tournaments in the entire country. Tournaments like Super 32, Who’s No. 1, Beast of the East and Fargo Nationals are essential in trying to evaluate talent, as you get to see them against other high-level competitors.

Condomitti has been selected to participate at the prestigious Who’s No. 1 event put on by FloWrestling, where they select the top talent in the country and try to find out who’s No. 1. Simple enough. Condomitti will face off against Victor Voinovich of Brecksville, Ohio. Voinovich is the No. 2-ranked wrestler in the country at 152 pounds and is committed to powerhouse Oklahoma State. The event will be held Oct. 3 in Austin, Texas.

Lenny Pinto

Pinto, a senior-to-be at Stroudsburg High School, is ranked No. 3 in the country at 170 pounds. His head coach is Sean Richmond, a former wrestler and assistant coach at Easton High School, coach Snyder’s alma mater. Pinto brings a career 118-18 record into his senior year, including a school record 44 wins as a junior.

Pinto won his first PIAA state championship in March as a junior and is the odds-on favorite to win the title as a senior. The No. 16-ranked wrestler in the country regardless of weight class, Pinto won the 2019 Cadet Fargo National Championship in freestyle while finishing third in Greco-Roman, earning him double All-American status. On his way to the freestyle title, Pinto beat returning champion Tate Picklo in the semifinal round before defeating Rylan Rogers in the final (video below). Picklo is an Oklahoma recruit, and Rogers is currently the top-ranked 182-pounder in the country. Pinto also finished in fifth place at the 2019 Super 32 tournament.

Pinto is projected as a 174 or 184-pounder in college, giving Nebraska an heir apparent to Mikey Labriola at 174 pounds. Pinto will be able to redshirt during Labriola’s senior season.

Coming up, Pinto was also invited to the upcoming Who’s No. 1 event. He will face a familiar foe in Rylan Rogers, who Pinto beat last year at Fargo. Pinto will be moving up to 182 pounds to face Rogers. It will be an interesting match, as their previous matchup was in freestyle (international style) and their upcoming match will be in folkstyle (high school and college style). Rogers, the national prep champion, will provide a serious test for Pinto, especially when you consider the bump in weight class.

What’s Next?

Nebraska has a few spots to fill in this recruiting class, although the Husker coaches have stocked up on serious talent the past few years so they could sign a relatively small class and see what their needs are as they figure out a roster full of underclassmen. Nebraska has 15 freshmen (9 true freshmen, 6 redshirt freshmen), seven sophomores, six juniors and seven seniors on the roster.

As for probable starters, Nebraska has four seniors who are set to start (possibly 5 if Christian Lance wins the spot at heavyweight), but for many of them their future replacement is already on the roster waiting in the wings.

Nebraska is in a great place where it can be extremely selective in the recruiting process this season, as the young talent already on the roster gives it the luxury of only extending scholarship offers to blue chip prospects like Pinto and Condomitti.