PREVIEW
The Boilermakers, led by head coach Tony Ersland in his 13th season, feature their youngest roster in 20 years, since the 2006-07 season. Nineteen of the 30 wrestlers are entering just their first or second years of college wrestling, and only two are in their final seasons of eligibility (Brody Baumann, Gavin Brown). But the inexperience is not an indication of lack of potential.
Purdue has strung together three top-15 recruiting classes in the past four cycles, and at least on paper, this year’s team appears to be one of the most talented of the Ersland era.
The squad is highlighted by returning two-time All-American Joey Blaze entering his senior season. The Perrysburg, Ohio, native, ranked No. 3 in the country at 165 lbs., stands to benefit from the NCAA’s new five-for-five model and has two more years of eligibility since he never redshirted. He has goals to become Purdue’s first national champion since 1992 and just the fourth three-time All-American in school history.
Baumann (No. 22 at 174) enters his final season as a three-time NCAA Championships qualifier. He will look to take another step forward after earning career-high NCAA seeds in each of the past three tournaments, most recently the No. 22 seed last season. He is one of just three Indiana natives to qualify for the past three NCAA tournaments.
Other key returnees include consistent starters Brown (149), Ashton Jackson (125) and James Rowley (184), who represented Purdue at the 2026 Big Ten Championships. Isaiah Schaefer (141) is poised for a breakout year after debuting at No. 23 in the preseason rankings. The sophomore from Evansville showed flashes of dominance in his true freshman season a year ago. In April, Schaefer earned U20 All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in freestyle at the U.S. Open.
In addition to 11 true freshmen, junior heavyweight Austin Richens is a newcomer to watch this season. Originally from Vernal, Utah, Richens wrestled his first two seasons at Northwest College where he was a two-time All-American and the 2026 NJCAA national champion. He steamrolled the JUCO championships this past spring when he went 5-0 with all pins, and earned the David Rowlands Award, given annually to the top male JUCO athlete in the country among all sports.
The scrimmage will be a good trial run for the Boilermakers before they open the regular season against Kent State on Sunday, Nov. 1. It will mark the first time since Dec. 3, 1960, that Purdue has opened wrestling season with a home event in West Lafayette.
