How does that work with the rules for weight certification and descent plans?
From the NCAA Rules:
Rule 8 - Weight Management
Section 1. Trackwrestling System and Optimal Performance Calculator (OPC)
Section 3. Weight Certification Procedures
Art. 2. Weight Certification Deadline — Wrestler Reporting after Nov. 1. A wrestler joining the team after Nov. 1 shall perform a weight certification prior to their first competition.
Art. 10.
Descent and the 1.5% Regulation. The NCAA Weight-Loss Plan guides a wrestler to slowly descend to the desired weight class by losing not more than 1.5% of body weight per week (7 days). This 1.5% descent requirement shall never be altered or adjusted.
My take from the above: For wrestlers on the roster at the beginning of the school year (for 2023-24), they must undergo a certification of wrestlers between Sep. 1 and Nov. 1. The minimum wrestling weight class for the season is set at that time. In addition, the weight descent rules (the above Art. 10) will kick in for the roster wrestler from that weigh in.
Wrestlers joining after the season has started (as did Hutmacher) have to undergo a weight certification prior to their first competition. Hutmacher didn't have to be entered into the OPC as soon as he joined after the end of football. As such, he could have/Nebraska could have started him on a plan to lose weight before he was entered in the system.
Once he was in the system, he would have been limited to 1.5% of body weight per week. If he had gotten down to 300 lbs before he was entered into the system, the descendent plan would have limited him to dropping 4.5 lbs. per week. Thus, I suspect that he dropped a good bit of weight after concluding the football season, but before being entered in the OPC. (If he was 300 when he entered, he would have been limited to dropping 4.5 lbs. in week 1 (getting him to 295.5). He would have then been limited to dropping 4.4325 lbs in week 2 (getting him to 291.1). He would have been limited to dropping 4.3665 lbs in week 3 (getting him to 286.7). He would have been limited to dropping 4.3005 lbs in week 4 (getting him to 282.40, and thus making 285.)
