We are moving on to the last weight class in our series of deep-dives into each and every weight class — 285 pounds. We’ve went weight-by-weight with you’ll getting a detailed summary and outlook of the roster going into the 2024-25 season, seeing what the weight class looks like nationally, looking ahead to who could be next in line, and looking back at who has excelled and earned All-American honors at the weight in the past for the Huskers.
Everything you’ll need to know to get ready for this coming season (which is quickly approaching) is right here.
Roster Outlook for 2024-25
Last season was a strange one at this weight for Nebraska. The Huskers started their season with then-redshirt freshman Harley Andrews as the starter before the surprise addition in December of football star Nash Hutmacher to the lineup.
A former four-time state champ from South Dakota in wrestling, Hutmacher is a star defensive lineman for Nebraska’s football team. He joined the team in the winter, dropped 40 pounds, and took over the starting spot in January. Hutmacher ended up going 7-8 on the year while qualifying for the NCAA Championships, an enormous feat for someone who was away from the sport for years.
Now, Nebraska will again have #23 Harley Andrews as its starter at heavyweight. A three-time state champion from Oklahoma, Andrews was ranked #36 overall in the class of 2022 and #4 nationally at heavyweight when he graduated.
During his redshirt season in 2022-23, Andrews went an impressive 22-2 and 8-1 against DI competition. His only DI loss was via pinfall to Illinois’ Matt Wroblewski in his only dual matchup that year.
Last season as a redshirt freshman, Andrews started the year as Nebraska’s guy at heavyweight. He struggled to start the season, losing his first two dual matchups, one a 24-12 major decision against Campbell’s All-American Taye Ghadiali. He followed that up with a 3-2 showing at the Navy Classic and a 1-2 performance at the Cliff Keen Invitational.
After a 4-2 record at the Soldier Salute and another dual loss, Andrews was replaced by Hutmacher in the lineup. He did get into two conference duals as he put together the best performances of his young career – he beat #24 Bennett Tabor of Minnesota 10-7 to win the dual for Nebraska and downed Northwestern’s Jack Jessen via 15-0 tech fall. See both of those matches below.
Andrews finished his redshirt freshman year with a 10-9 record, but he was certainly improving as the season went on. I’m confident he’ll be a solid heavy for Nebraska this year, especially with another year under assistant coach Tervel Dlagnev, an Olympic Bronze Medalist at heavyweight. Also, he looks like he’s put on some good weight this offseason (see below at the 15 second mark from back in August).
Behind Andrews will be redshirt freshman Matthew Moore. A former big-boarder in 2023 (#91 overall), Moore was an Ironman finalist in high school. A true heavyweight, Moore was a state champion in Colorado and a three-time state finalist. When he graduated, he was ranked #4 in the country at heavyweight.
Last season while redshirting, Moore went 5-2 and won a title at the Hastings Open in January.
The 2024-25 NCAA Field
This year’s field is stacked with experienced talent with returning NCAA Champion Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State leading the charge. A four-time All-American, Kerkvliet was an NCAA finalist in 2023 before punching through for the title this past March. He’s the overwhelming favorite to win it all this year.
Penn State’s #1 Greg KerkvlietPhoto by Evert Nelson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Behind Kerkvliet will be #2 Wyatt Hendrickson, who transferred from Air Force to Oklahoma State for his final year of eligibility. Then there’s #3 Nick Feldman of Ohio State who finished fifth at NCAAs as a redshirt freshman and has wrestled Kerkvliet very close. Arizona State’s #4 Cohlton Schultz also returns as a former NCAA finalist, while All-Americans #5 Yaraslau Slavikouski of Rutgers (7th in 2024) and #7 Taye Ghadiali of Campbell (8th) return as well.
This is an extremely tough weight class for a young wrestler with four of the Top-5 being seniors. We should expect some growing pains for Andrews during his first full season as the starter, but he has the pedigree to do well.
Future Starter/Recruiting Target
This is another weight where Nebraska has a future plan in place. Not only do the Huskers have Andrews holding things down, they also have a solid depth guy and a commit coming in that’s going to contend for the job right away after redshirt.
Incoming next season will be Omaha Skutt’s Cade Ziola, an Ironman champ, Who’s Number One winner, Fargo finalist, and 3rd-place finisher at Super 32 (at 215 pounds). Ziola is a two-time Nebraska state champ and has been getting bigger by the day (see below). After winning his first state title at 170 as a sophomore, he won another at 190 as a junior. He recently competed for the first time ever at 215 pounds at Super 32, the country’s toughest folkstyle tournament.
Beyond that, there’s also the chance that Nebraska adds Fremont’s Preston Wagner from the 2026 class. Wagner just earned double All-American honors at Fargo at 125 kg and made an official visit for the Illinois football game.
Another option for Nebraska would be in-state football commit Tyson Terry. Terry is a three-time undefeated Class A state champion for Omaha North who’s committed to the Husker football team. Could Mark Manning convince Matt Rhule to let Terry onto the mat like he did Hutmacher? If so, Terry could be a serious difference-maker on the mat.
Husker All-Americans since 1998-99
The modern-day weight classes first started in 1998-99. That coincides almost exactly with Mark Manning’s start as Nebraska’s head coach, his first year at the helm being the 1999-2000 season. So, we’re going back 26 years here to show you Nebraska’s All-Americans at 285 pounds.
2022- Christian Lance (8th)
That’s it. That’s the list.
Obviously, Nebraska has not been very successful at the heavyweight class for some time, outside of Christian Lance’s 2021-22 season. I have a feeling that’s what was behind the program’s hiring of Dlagnev as a college assistant coach/head coach of the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center.
The past few seasons, Nebraska has filled the heavyweight spot with transfers and football players (former DII wrestler Lance in 2022, Wyoming transfer Cale Davidson in 2023, and Hutmacher in 2024). This has yielded limited results, but now Nebraska finally has a guy that it recruited out of high school and feels good about in Andrews.
I’m certainly not predicting a podium finish for Andrews this season against this stacked field, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he reaches All-American status eventually once all those top-tier upperclassmen finally graduate.
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