Maryland wrestling hopes to ride momentum from last season into this year’s version of the Terps

Maryland wrestling posted a record above .500 last season for the first time joining the Big Ten prior to the 2014 campaign. Coach Alex Clemsen hopes to continue that momentum this season.

The Terps ended the 2022-23 campaign 10-9, improving from 7-12 the year prior. Clemsen more than doubled his entire win total as Maryland’s head coach just last season, and he led the Terps to their first double-digit win season since a 14-8 finish during the 2012-13 campaign.

“Our kids, they’re learning to fight and they’re learning to compete night in and night out,” Clemsen said. “When you do that, good things happen.”

Maryland won a Big Ten match last season for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, coming against Purdue. The Boilermakers led the dual match until the final bout, in which heavyweight Jaron Smith won a 3-2 decision against Hayden Copass to overtake Purdue 19-18.

The Terps saw a major turnaround in the 125 pound weight class last season. They went from a 0-19 individual dual record for that weight division in the 2021-22 campaign to a 16-3 record a year later. Braxton Brown took over the starting lightweight role as a redshirt freshman and finished the season as Intermat’s No. 17 125-pound wrestler among all Division I wrestlers.

Ethen Miller saw similar success in his 2022-23 campaign, finishing the regular season at No. 22 in the 149 pound class. 

“He’s a pretty talented kid in his own right,” Clemsen said.

Miller’s brother Kal, who finished 18-18 last year as a freshman, is officially listed as part of the 141 pound division. Clemsen said Kal Miller wrestled as a true freshman last year in part because he did not want to force the brothers to compete for spots in the 149 pound class.

True freshman wrestlers starting in meets are rare for a Clemsen-coached team. Kal Miller was the only true freshman to start in a meet last season, and this year Clemsen said there would be no true freshman starters. Rather, Clemsen prefers to redshirt freshmen to promote development.

“I think that’s a mistake people make sometimes, where you wrestle young talent because you think they’re ready and they’re not,” Clemsen said. “And I think having three redshirt freshmen alive day two of the nationals was proof that redshirting kids helps them.”

The three redshirt freshmen who made it to the second round of the NCAA National Tournament were Brown, Ethen Miller, and 197 pound wrestler Jaxon Smith. Smith went an excellent 23-8 last season, finishing with a No. 10 ranking in his division.

Maryland currently lists nine true freshmen on its roster. Clemsen said that wrestlers exercising their extra years of eligibility resulting from COVID can mean a true freshman might face a wrestler in his sixth year, which is one of the reasons Kal Miller was an anomaly starting in the 141 pound class last season.

“It isn’t a good time to have a young team, that’s for sure in our sport,” Clemsen said. “But we do, and so our kids are preparing as hard as they can so they can compete as high as they can.”

The Terps will be without longtime heavyweight wrestler Jaron Smith this year, who finished the regular season a year ago with a 13-8 record. Taking his place on the roster is FloWrestling’s former No. 10 high school recruit Seth Nevills. The graduate student transferred from Penn State to shore up Maryland’s heavyweight spot.

“We’re really excited about him,” Clemsen said. “He’s obviously very talented.”

Besides Nevills, many of the Terps’ key wrestlers this season remain the same from last year. That should allow Maryland to build off its best campaign in recent memory.