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Wrestling Season Preview: Upper WeightsWrestling Season Preview: Upper Weights
Trish Sexton

Brody Baumann at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland

Wrestling Season Preview: Upper Weights

Previewing the 174-, 184-, 197- and 285-pound weight classes

Lower Weights Opens in a new window Middle Weights Opens in a new window
by Brook Weber

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue is set to open its 107th season of wrestling when it hosts Kent State for a dual on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Holloway Gymnasium.

Amazingly, it will be the wrestling team’s first regular season opener at home since Dec. 3, 1960.

Head coach Tony Ersland enters his 13th season with 99 career wins and has the chance to secure his 100th in front of Purdue’s home crowd on Sunday. He announced a reshuffling of his staff last month after the departure of longtime head assistant coach Leroy Vega.

Jake Sueflohn, entering his 11th season with the Boilermakers, was elevated to the head assistant role. Collin Purinton was hired from North Dakota State to be an assistant coach, and Brian Anderson and Matt Ramos swapped job titles. Anderson is now an assistant coach alongside Purinton while Ramos takes on the role of director of player personnel.

The Purdue wrestling roster is the youngest it has been since the 2006-07 season, with 19 of the 30 wrestlers entering just their first or second seasons of college wrestling. Only two Boilermakers are entering their final seasons of eligibility: Brody Baumann (174 pounds) and Gavin Brown (149).

The program did away with redshirt designations this season for the sake of simplifying due to the NCAA’s new five-for-five rules. Going forward, all college student-athletes receive five years of eligibility whether or not they compete in a full varsity season. If a wrestler was a redshirt sophomore last year, they are listed as a senior this season since it is their fourth year. The designations are as such: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Fifth Year (or Graduate Student).

This is Part 3 of a three-part roster preview, taking a look at the upper weights (174 to 285 pounds). Part 1 (125-141) released Monday and Part 2 (149-165) released Tuesday.

174 LBS

Brody Baumann

Brody Baumann

174
6-0
Camden Baumann

Camden Baumann

174
5-11
Xavier Smith

Xavier Smith

5-10

Fifth-year Brody Baumann is ready for his final ride as one of Purdue’s two returning NCAA qualifiers. This past season was his third trip to nationals, making him one of just three Indiana natives to qualify for each of the past three NCAA tournaments. He earned a preseason ranking of No. 22 by InterMat and will be relied on to start at one of the sport’s most competitive weight classes again this season. He’ll have a chance to become a rare four-time national qualifier, something that’s only been accomplished by 17 wrestlers in school history, most recently by Matt Ramos in 2025.

Wrestling Black and Gold ScrimmageBrody Baumann defeated Adrian Pellot in a 22-6 (6:30) technical fall at Wrestle-Offs.

Camden Baumann is Brody’s little brother, making up the second pair of brothers on the team along with the Weavers. Camden is also a 174-pounder and he came to Purdue after posting a 120-18 record at Mater Dei High School in Evansville. He placed fourth at the IHSAA state tournament in 2026 after a 35-3 senior season.

Freshman Xavier Smith from Fishers, Indiana, was the No. 125 overall recruit on the MatScouts Big Board. He was the top 175-pounder in the state before an injury at the start of his senior season. In 2025, he took fifth place and finished with a high school record of 109-21. He is a former folkstyle national champion and took third in Greco-Roman at Fargo where he also placed fifth in freestyle.

184 LBS

Aidan Costello

Aidan Costello

184
6-2
Quinn Herbert

Quinn Herbert

184
5-11
Max Matthias

Max Matthias

184
5-9
James Rowley

James Rowley

184
6-0

James Rowley is another key returnee for the Boilermakers this season, one of just four who started every dual last season. He had a full, uninterrupted offseason of healthy training this year, which wasn’t the case a year ago when he was coming off a season-ending knee injury from December 2024. Rowley has two more years of eligibility as he enters his fifth year, and came up just short of qualifying for nationals after a career-high 12 wins. He will be counted on to take another step forward this season to hopefully give Purdue another Big Ten placewinner.

Junior Quinn Herbert went 5-8 last season competing in four tournaments at 184 pounds. He recorded the fast fall by a Boilermaker all season, scoring a pin in just 31 seconds at the Wabash Open. The former Illinois state runner-up should provide quality depth at a position that needs it.

Aidan Costello begins his sophomore season after making four dual appearances last year at 174, including three Big Ten dual starts. He placed second at the Michigan State Open, winning his first college match via pin. Rowley defeated Costello in a 19-6 major decision at Wrestle-Offs.

Max Matthias is the freshman among the group. From Two Rivers, Wisconsin, he was a four-time state placewinner and two-time state runner-up. He finished 155-8 and was a 2024 U.S. Open All-American, placing seventh at 92 kg.

Purdue Wrestling Black and Gold ScrimmageJames Rowley defeated Aidan Costello, 19-6 major decision, at Wrestle-Offs.

197 LBS

Noah Weaver

Noah Weaver

197
5-10

Noah Weaver is the only true 197-pounder on the roster. A lot will be asked of the sophomore as he takes over the role Ben Vanadia held the last three years. But the Rossville, Indiana, native certainly shows signs of potential and progress. He was a two-time state champion who went 176-9 in high school and was named the 2024-25 Journal & Courier Male Athlete of the Year. He was Rossville’s 2025 salutatorian and class president, and was ranked No. 70 overall on the MatScouts Big Board.

After an up-and-down freshman season in which he was asked to start in place of an injured Vanadia against top-tier Big Ten opponents, he finished 10-5 and won three tournament titles unattached. At Wrestle-Offs, he dominated Herbert in a 22-6 technical fall.

HEAVYWEIGHTS

Dominic Burgett

Dominic Burgett

285
6-2
Austin Richens

Austin Richens

285
6-3
Tyson Russell

Tyson Russell

285
6-3

Austin Richens is a key newcomer to keep an eye on. He is the only incoming transfer on the roster after winning the 2026 NJCAA national title as a heavyweight. He was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, in which he went 5-0 with five falls, an incredible feat. Richens was the 2026 David Rowlands Award recipient, which is awarded to the nation’s top male JUCO athlete among all sports. It will be interesting to see how his level of dominance at that level translates to the highest the sport has to offer. As a Big Ten heavyweight, he’ll face one of the most ruthless roads of any wrestler on the roster especially late in the year.

Richens defeated Dominic Burgett in a 3-0 decision at Wrestle-Offs. Burgett, the senior from Fishers, Indiana, compiled a 3-3 record as a backup heavyweight las season He placed eighth at the Greyhound Open, the only tournament at which he competed in the 2026-27 season.

Tyson Russell is the youngster among the group. As a freshman last year, he went 10-7 and earned a pair of top-three finishes at the Purple Raider Open and Wabash Open. Ultimately, he finished 8-2 in bonus point bouts. The former back-to-back Tennessee state champion was ranked No. 158 on the 2025 MatScouts Big Board.

Wrestling Black and Gold ScrimmageAustin Richens won the battle of heavyweights at the annual scrimmage, defeating Dominic Burgett in a 3-0 decision.