With season kicking off and the forums being pretty dead I decided to make a top 10 P4P. I am curious what others think as this is all for fun and pretty much impossible to determine outside of the top 2 being clear cut.

1. Jordyn Raney- Won their last match-up but its brother on brother crime. Could see this going either way in other head to heads.

2. Jaydyn Raney- See above

3. Jackson Wells- I got to watch Nico Desalvo dominate big school state in Iowa (Major in finals). Then I watched Wells Major him at Super 32 (Got to talk smack to my Iowa buddies). Also took a CLOSE loss to number 4 in country.

4. Lucas Ricketts- He dominates everyone he is supposed to. He doesn't have any weird losses and i'm not docking him for putting It on line at Ironman.

5. Jonah McCloskey- This is where It gets a little hairy. You could flip the next 4 guys however you would like. I just think Jonah has jumped levels and is better technically than the next few. 

6. George Dennis- He competes a lot over the summer and has had some decent wins here and there. He beat Landon at state and doesn't have any weird losses. 

7. Landon Evans- He is kinda the P4P gate keeper in my eyes. He can compete way outside his weight class (all-star vs. Kaygen, TJ at IHPO) but he has a loss to George Dennis at state. 

8. TJ Meyer- He has been really consistent the last few years. I don't think he has lost to anyone that isn't a state champ in KY in last 3 years. He has a loss to Landon who lost to George so 8 It is.

9. Miller Brown- Won arguably the deepest weight last season. He took a loss to Wojo, but Wojo had an awesome year until a slide at state so not a bad loss. Consistent every year. 

10. Bryant Faucett- So many options for 10 I cant decide but he offered me $5 to put him at 10.

I like it.  And I like your list.  I will make a couple slight adjustments and caveat that we may be shortchanging some of the upper weights, but I don't think we have seen enough of them compete outside the state to know how they stack up.

1. Jordyn Raney

2. Jayden Raney

3. Jackson Wells

4. George Dennis

5. Landon Evans

6. TJ Meyer

7. Miller Brown

8. Ethan Davis

9. Jonah McCloskey

10. Lucas Rickets

11. Isaac Johns

I feel like the top 3 is a lock.  4-7 feel sort of like a tier of their own and slot themselves based on fairly recent results.  Ethan beat Jonah last time they met up at state (I've spent countless hours with both of these kids in the barn, so I really want to see them both get a title).  Lucas probably too low for me with his Fargo plaques, but they are greco and this is folk.  I should probably check out some of his freestyle and ironman matches to make an informed call on this one.  I added 11 just because.  And he didn't offer any $.

23 minutes ago, Ranger123 said:

I like it.  And I like your list.  I will make a couple slight adjustments and caveat that we may be shortchanging some of the upper weights, but I don't think we have seen enough of them compete outside the state to know how they stack up.

1. Jordyn Raney

2. Jayden Raney

3. Jackson Wells

4. George Dennis

5. Landon Evans

6. TJ Meyer

7. Miller Brown

8. Ethan Davis

9. Jonah McCloskey

10. Lucas Rickets

11. Isaac Johns

 

I feel like the top 3 is a lock.  4-7 feel sort of like a tier of their own and slot themselves based on fairly recent results.  Ethan beat Jonah last time they met up at state (I've spent countless hours with both of these kids in the barn, so I really want to see them both get a title).  Lucas probably too low for me with his Fargo plaques, but they are greco and this is folk.  I should probably check out some of his freestyle and ironman matches to make an informed call on this one.  I added 11 just because.  And he didn't offer any $.

I have Jonah over Dennis with his head to head win at Barbarian Nationals last year. I didn't dock Jonah for state 2 years ago, a lot changes in 2 years. I had Ethan on mine but remembered the loss to Nance at Rumble. Nance isn't a bad loss but when talking P4P you cant have a loss to the guy that got 7th in your weight the same year imo. Johns was similar situation, he lost to Rider at 150 at the same Rumble and Luke Knight. I have Lucas pretty high after his 2nd place at Pre-Season. I know he had a big win first round out there against JT Smith. 

None the less our middle of the packs are pretty similar. Its crazy how stacked the lower middle weights are right now. No where for guys to really run to.

1. Jordyn Raney

2. Jayden Raney

3.  George Dennis

4. Landon Evans

5. TJ Meyer

6. Jonah McCloskey

7. Isaac Johns

8. Jackson Wells

9. Lucas Rickets

10. Utah Heady (3rd at the US open)

11. Keygen Roberts/ Ren Birk. 
 

10 and 11 could be interchangeable but giving the 10 spot to Utah bc of his performance this summer. 

I agree with Utah. At least deserves a honorable mention 

Hunter Jenkins, Dalton Matney, and Utah Heady have won a lot of national matches. 
 

6 minutes ago, DrBaker said:

Hunter Jenkins, Dalton Matney, and Utah Heady have won a lot of national matches. 
 

Definitely studs, for Jenkins he didn't make my list due to loss to Johns who also wasn't on my list due to Trumble and Knight loss. Dalton just doesn't have the quality wins that the others do imo, I saw 165 as one of the weaker weights last season. Utah was hard for me because his last 2 state finishes were 5th and 4th. I know last year his losses were to guys on my list but the year before he had some questionable losses. 

I try to picture these guys bumping up one weight and how they would do for P4P. Raneys would both dominate obviously. Wells would win It in my opinion with only close match being Davis. Ricketts would probably win out through HWT (dont hate me big guys). Jonah would get second to Raney. George pending weight would be a top 2-3 guy probably behind guys on list. Landon has already beat the number 1 at 144. TJ same boat top 2-3 only losing to others on my list. Miller has jumped weights and been in finals consistently and could make finals at 175 easy if on other side of Ricketts. 

One thing is certain. Ky is tough from 132-144. Alot of the kids mentioned here are close to the same weight class. Might be a result if everyone chasing the Raneys. 

Chasing the Raney’s HUH ?  How bout we wait to see where they actually end up and when everyone gets the 2 pounds. I’ve got a pretty good feeling these weights will clear out with kids going up and down to get away from them. Its not a knock at the kids, but everyone says they want to chase them until they actually catch them and Well we see what happens at that point.  Good Luck to all Wrestlers this Year !!!

1 minute ago, Take-em-down said:

Chasing the Raney’s HUH ?  How bout we wait to see where they actually end up and when everyone gets the 2 pounds. I’ve got a pretty good feeling these weights will clear out with kids going up and down to get away from them. Its not a knock at the kids, but everyone says they want to chase them until they actually catch them and Well we see what happens at that point.  Good Luck to all Wrestlers this Year !!!

I agree. Nobody in Kentucky is within a techfall of the Raneys. Kentucky, and even the entire country has been notoriously stacked at these weights. It's the middle ground of stud small guys getting bigger and stud middle weights cutting to a comfortable weight. Most guys that much bigger are multi sport athletes usually. Average 14-18 year old is 130-155 put cutting into the equation and you have your 126-144 stacked weight classes. 

Joey Chestnut, Mike Tyson (1980-1990), Michael Jordan, Khabib N., Jon Jones, and probably the Bushwhackers.

59 minutes ago, Take-em-down said:

Chasing the Raney’s HUH ?  How bout we wait to see where they actually end up and when everyone gets the 2 pounds. I’ve got a pretty good feeling these weights will clear out with kids going up and down to get away from them. Its not a knock at the kids, but everyone says they want to chase them until they actually catch them and Well we see what happens at that point.  Good Luck to all Wrestlers this Year !!!

Chasing them as far as trying to keep up. Not chasing them to wrestle them. But since they have all been wrestling they have been within a weight class of each other. The Raneys have driven kids like Evans, George, TJ, Mcloskey and Johns to push themselves since they were in grade school to get better. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that’s most of the pound for pound best kids in the state have been close to the Raneys weight classes over the years. 

1 minute ago, PPmothman said:

Chasing them as far as trying to keep up. Not chasing them to wrestle them. But since they have all been wrestling they have been within a weight class of each other. The Raneys have driven kids like Evans, George, TJ, Mcloskey and Johns to push themselves since they were in grade school to get better. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that’s most of the pound for pound best kids in the state have been close to the Raneys weight classes over the years. 

You're still in the same boat of it's the average size of kids at that age therefore more talent at those weights. I talk to Evans, Jonah, and others on a daily basis and Raneys are the last things on their mind. Jonah has Joey Parrot and awesome SK crew, George has Ashbrook, TJ has the Walton crew and KY Extreme, Evans has Ryle backing and woodshed, all these programs have notoriously been strong at lighter to middle weights. 
 

You wouldn't be wrong in the fact that it's not a coincidence that most of the best pound for pound kids are around Raneys sizes who are also of average size though lol

1. Jordyn Raney

2. Jayden Raney

3. Jackson Wells

4. George Dennis

5. Landon Evans

6. Isaac Johns

7. Miller Brown

8. TJ Meyer

9. Lucas Rickets

10. Rider Trumble

12 hours ago, WolfpackPride said:

1. Jordyn Raney

2. Jayden Raney

3. Jackson Wells

4. George Dennis

5. Landon Evans

6. Isaac Johns

7. Miller Brown

8. TJ Meyer

9. Lucas Rickets

10. Rider Trumble

Rider made a statement today pinning Micah in the first. I won't argue with this list at all! Id put Rider over Johns just based on the head to head at Rumble last season, maybe 9 Rider and 10 Johns. 

11 hours ago, Elite Training Center KY said:

Rider made a statement today pinning Micah in the first. I won't argue with this list at all! Id put Rider over Johns just based on the head to head at Rumble last season, maybe 9 Rider and 10 Johns. 

Yeah… my only reasoning was the title vs 3rd place. However, state tournament does not always tell the full story, along with those being quite different brackets. 

1 minute ago, WolfpackPride said:

Yeah… my only reasoning was the title vs 3rd place. However, state tournament does not always tell the full story, along with those being quite different brackets. 

Yeah I don't put much weight into the title itself as much as quality wins. Not that John's had the easiest weight, but 150 last season was imo the toughest weight without question. I think the Knight loss is worse than the Wojo loss Rider had and I think Miller is a quality loss if there is such a thing. 

On 12/22/2024 at 11:50 PM, Elite Training Center KY said:

Yeah I don't put much weight into the title itself as much as quality wins. Not that John's had the easiest weight, but 150 last season was imo the toughest weight without question. I think the Knight loss is worse than the Wojo loss Rider had and I think Miller is a quality loss if there is such a thing. 

very true, knight is likely a 7th or 8th at that weight in last years bracket.