Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: Bruce Waterfield
Cowboys Talk Missouri, Iowa State
January 24, 2017 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER – Members of the Oklahoma State wrestling team met with the media Tuesday afternoon to preview this weekend's road matchups with No. 7 Missouri and Iowa State.
Â
Head Coach John Smith
Â
On preparing for road duals:
"It's still the same this time of year. Focus on yourself, improve in areas you need to improve in. You should be gradually getting better and better each week, so we hope to see that. Sometimes the road can be easier because you can focus a little bit more. You've got them together the night before in the hotel. So sometimes it isn't as big of a disadvantage. We haven't had a hard road trip this season, so the next couple of weekends will be a little bit challenging, but at the same time, it can benefit us."
Â
On if he gets to see a different side of his team on road trips:
"Probably. You realize the ones that are messy. Road trips are good. It's business. Anytime you have making weight involved, you've got to be disciplined. You can't do a whole lot. You're focused on making weight and then you're focused on wrestling. Then you jump back in the van and head to the next place. There isn't a lot of time to do a bunch of things."
Â
On what he hopes to improve on from last weekend's duals:
"Intensity. Whether we're winning or losing our matches, I want to see the presence of an attitude on the mat. We talk a lot of times about going hard. It's more than going hard. It's showing a dominating presence on the mat. Even in matches that you may lose, we need to see that presence, that domination, that attitude on the mat. If you have that, all of those other words to describe what you're looking for will end up happening: hard and intensity. I'm just really looking for a demanding presence on the mat from my guys from here on out."
Â
On what he learned from the three losses during the South Dakota State dual:
"I wasn't that disappointed by the three losses. I was more encouraged by the seven wins and how we won them. We had some great examples of being unmerciful out there. At 149, Collica was unmerciful with the takedowns. The match got nasty and bloody, and he got tougher. Kaid (Brock)'s match, it got nasty and it got bloody, and he wasn't quite ready to get nasty enough. And I don't mean nasty as in cheating, I mean finding that extra drive and that extra mental toughness to push through the match. Some guys just need to experience it."
Â
Nolan Boyd – Senior, 184 pounds
Â
On if 100 wins as a part of this program means more being an Oklahoma kid:
"Yeah, that's pretty cool. It's all part of the process. It can be fun, or it can be a chore. The more I think of it as blessings and fun, the more I enjoy things like this."
Â
On how road trips help with the chemistry of the team:
"There are guys that are cutting weight and not happy all the time. It's different, but it is a lot of fun. They're memories that maybe I took for granted some years, but I'm trying not to. I'm trying to invest in everybody, enjoy everybody and have fun."
Â
On the differences between road duals and home duals:
"Really, just the time. It's a lot of wait, wait, wait, wait, go. What you do when you're waiting, you can have fun, and you can get to know your teammates better. That's one of the best things about wrestling is just the bonding with your teammates because you know that you're stuck in an airport with these guys. You can just sit there or really get to know somebody and sometimes that's pretty fun.
Â
Â
Head Coach John Smith
Â
On preparing for road duals:
"It's still the same this time of year. Focus on yourself, improve in areas you need to improve in. You should be gradually getting better and better each week, so we hope to see that. Sometimes the road can be easier because you can focus a little bit more. You've got them together the night before in the hotel. So sometimes it isn't as big of a disadvantage. We haven't had a hard road trip this season, so the next couple of weekends will be a little bit challenging, but at the same time, it can benefit us."
Â
On if he gets to see a different side of his team on road trips:
"Probably. You realize the ones that are messy. Road trips are good. It's business. Anytime you have making weight involved, you've got to be disciplined. You can't do a whole lot. You're focused on making weight and then you're focused on wrestling. Then you jump back in the van and head to the next place. There isn't a lot of time to do a bunch of things."
Â
On what he hopes to improve on from last weekend's duals:
"Intensity. Whether we're winning or losing our matches, I want to see the presence of an attitude on the mat. We talk a lot of times about going hard. It's more than going hard. It's showing a dominating presence on the mat. Even in matches that you may lose, we need to see that presence, that domination, that attitude on the mat. If you have that, all of those other words to describe what you're looking for will end up happening: hard and intensity. I'm just really looking for a demanding presence on the mat from my guys from here on out."
Â
On what he learned from the three losses during the South Dakota State dual:
"I wasn't that disappointed by the three losses. I was more encouraged by the seven wins and how we won them. We had some great examples of being unmerciful out there. At 149, Collica was unmerciful with the takedowns. The match got nasty and bloody, and he got tougher. Kaid (Brock)'s match, it got nasty and it got bloody, and he wasn't quite ready to get nasty enough. And I don't mean nasty as in cheating, I mean finding that extra drive and that extra mental toughness to push through the match. Some guys just need to experience it."
Â
Nolan Boyd – Senior, 184 pounds
Â
On if 100 wins as a part of this program means more being an Oklahoma kid:
"Yeah, that's pretty cool. It's all part of the process. It can be fun, or it can be a chore. The more I think of it as blessings and fun, the more I enjoy things like this."
Â
On how road trips help with the chemistry of the team:
"There are guys that are cutting weight and not happy all the time. It's different, but it is a lot of fun. They're memories that maybe I took for granted some years, but I'm trying not to. I'm trying to invest in everybody, enjoy everybody and have fun."
Â
On the differences between road duals and home duals:
"Really, just the time. It's a lot of wait, wait, wait, wait, go. What you do when you're waiting, you can have fun, and you can get to know your teammates better. That's one of the best things about wrestling is just the bonding with your teammates because you know that you're stuck in an airport with these guys. You can just sit there or really get to know somebody and sometimes that's pretty fun.
Â
Players Mentioned
/ Cowboy Wrestling
Friday, June 05
Friday, May 29
Wednesday, May 27
Monday, May 18
