What Harvey Ludington's commitment means for Iowa wrestling

Saturday morning was a great moment for the future of the Iowa wrestling men’s program.

Why? Well, because the top-ranked 190-pounder in the country, Harvey Ludington, announced his commitment to the Hawkeyes.

On3’s Nick Kosko was first with the story – giving some great background as to the New Jersey native’s recruiting process and high school accolades. I’d highly recommend folks check that out in conjunction with what’s to follow.

A long-time Arizona State commit (August 2023), Ludington recently reopened his recruitment, taking known official visits to the likes of North Carolina, NC State and Oklahoma.

Instead, the senior has decided to represent the Black & Gold at the college level. Needless to say, the Hawkeyes are much better off for it.

Here’s a bit more on what Iowa is getting with Ludington, as well as the importance of his addition in terms of both lineup fit and the future championship aspirations of the program.

By the numbers

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Ludington (Brick Memorial) profiles as a prospect with serious Division I potential.

His current #1 national ranking at 190 pounds comes off the back of a dominant Fargo showing this past July.

Over two days in North Dakota, Ludington (seeded fifth) blitzed through the field en route to a Junior national title. He bonus’d all seven opponents by a combined margin of 74-1, including a 1:17 tech. fall (10-0) in the finals over Cade Ziola – a 2025 Nebraska commit currently ranked #3 nationally at 215 pounds.

That tournament propelled Ludington to the top spot at 190 – one he would’ve defended against Ziola at FloWrestling’s ‘Who’s Number One’ event in September had a last-minute injury not forced him to withdraw.

Nonetheless, he maintains his #1 ranking at present, along with the #14 overall spot in the Class of 2025 and a distinction as the #20 pound-for-pound prospect in all of high school wrestling (regardless of age/weight class).

The senior is about as ‘blue-chip’ as it gets in the world of recruiting. And he could also perfectly fill (perhaps) Iowa’s biggest need in its lineup going forward.

The final upperweight piece?

The strongest part of the lineup for this season’s second-ranked Iowa wrestling team has been its back half, where an infusion of freshmen, transfers and experienced veterans have made it an absolute bear for opponents to deal with.

174/184 pounds continue to stir up plenty of conversation as to whom will ultimately man those spots, but the bottom line is Iowa has four great options in contention for them.

Be it any of upperclassmen Nelson Brands/Patrick Kennedy, or freshmen Gabe Arnold/Angelo Ferrari, the Hawkeyes are faced with a great ‘problem’ at both weights.

Meanwhile, second-ranked grad transfer Stephen Buchanan has been exceptional at 197 ever since arriving in Iowa City.

And at 285, Iowa has a burgeoning star growing into the weight class in redshirt freshman Ben Kueter.

Of that six-pack of hammers, only Brands/Buchanan will have exhausted their eligibility following the 2025 postseason.

In particular, Buchanan leaves a major question mark at 197 – which is where Ludington comes in.

Whether he steps in immediately as a true freshman or takes a redshirt season, Iowa could’ve very well found its next long-term option at the weight. That’s something the Hawkeyes have been missing since five-time All-American Jacob Warner (2018-23) graduated.

Without Ludington’s commitment, Iowa didn’t have an obvious succession plan on its roster. Instead, it may have been forced to go the transfer route again next year (a la Buchanan) – or perhaps press into duty a different 2025 commit, eighth-ranked 190-pounder Jarrel Miller.

Maybe it would’ve all worked out just fine for the Hawks. But there’s no doubt that the Ludington addition provides Tom Brands with far more depth/certainty at 197 than he had prior to Saturday morning.

Youth infusion

A final critical component of this latest high school recruiting victory is that it’s exactly that – a high school recruiting victory.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as though Iowa wrestling hasn’t landed its share of blue-chip high schoolers in recent years.

The likes of Angelo Ferrari (2024), Gabe Arnold (2023) and Ben Kueter (2023) were all top-five prospects in their respective classes. So too, were Drake Ayala (2021) and Patrick Kennedy (2020) when you look further back. Several other current Hawkeyes have been in the top 20-30 range as well.

Combine that with what has undeniably become a transfer portal prowess over the last half-decade-plus, and there’s a reason this year’s team is a serious force to be reckoned with.

But when you look at the program the #2 Hawkeyes are chasing, there’s been an undeniable gap of late when it comes to the volume of top-end high school talent being brought in.

I’m talking of course, about three-time defending NCAA champions (and current #1) Penn State.

Perhaps no greater illustration of that gap exists than this summer’s U20 World Championship team for the United States.

On that 10-man squad, present/future Nittany Lions held six of the ten spots. Iowa was represented at only one (Ben Kueter at 125 kilograms).

To close the gap with PSU, Iowa likely needs to start with its high school recruiting efforts.

Harvey Ludington – in conjunction with top-ranked 120-pounder Leo DeLuca (also from New Jersey) – represents a step in the right direction.

For that, and every other aforementioned reason in this article, today’s commitment was a massive deal for Tom Brands and the Iowa wrestling program.