Bo Bassett announces commitment to Iowa wrestling

Bo Bassett officially announced his commitment to Iowa Tuesday, ending a long recruiting saga that had the attention of the wrestling world.

Bassett is MatScouts’ No. 1 overall prospect in the Class of 2026 and one of the most sought after prospects in recent memory. Recently, Bassett won his third Ironman title, this time at 144 pounds and had tech falls over six straight opponents. He revealed his Top 4 Monday, his final cutdown after starting with virtually every Division 1 program.

Bassett officially announced his commitment following his team, Bishop McCort’s, dual Tuesday evening.

“I think the recruiting process and going to these visits and having people come in was supposed to make it easier, like, make it more clear to me where I should be,” Bassett said on FloWrestling Radio Live Monday. “And I think really, it only made it harder. Every visit I took, really just made those programs jump in value. So I think the thing that surprised me the most is how hard it actually was, how stressful it is towards the end.

“You know, I think for me, it came down to things like, where I can be the best wrestler, the best person, where I can become the best in my faith, right, where they got a rich history, where they can produce good wrestlers, where I’m going to be valued, where there’s great atmospheres, right where I can grow myself, you know, maybe with my brand. I think there’s just so many things that go into it.”

As a reminder, here was the schedule of visits for Bassett throughout his recruitment:

Sep 20-22: Michigan
Oct 25-27: Iowa
Nov 1-3: Penn State
Nov 8-10: Ohio State
Nov 15-17: Virginia Tech
Nov 22-24: Oklahoma State
Jan 24-26: Rutgers

The top prospect’s visits were watched with close eyes as Bassett is seen as a program changer, along with younger brothers Keegan Bassett (2028) and Melvin Miller (2027). All of them wrestle for Bishop McCort (Pa.), which is considered one of the top high school wrestling teams in the country this year.

“And again … it would be wrong not to mention my two brothers as well that are going to be high level recruits the next two years, so I’m thinking about all those type of things,” Bassett said. “And I think the thing I learned most again was how hard (this was but) this process is awesome.”

Other top prospect Jax Forrest, who’s No. 2 pound for pound, is Bassett’s teammate. He revealed his top 10 schools back in September, but has not eliminated nor provided a recent update as he goes about his visits. 

“Some wrestlers don’t like this process, but I can honestly say I am really enjoying it,” Bassett said in a previous newsletter. “My view is, I only get to do the recruiting process once, so I am going to enjoy it and have fun with it. I sometimes like to do things different and hope everyone likes these updates.

“When I was in elementary school, I would have done anything to follow along with Spencer Lee, Jason Nolf or Zain Retherford recruiting process.”