Record setting Southern Columbia running back Gaige Garcia is transferring to Lehigh to both wrestle and play football. While he was definitely good enough to wrestle at Michigan, he wasn’t that level of a football player, but Lehigh is a great fit on both fronts. I think he could be an All American level running back in FCS (think Nate Eachus). If he just wrestled, I’d peg his as an All American contender at 184/197. Lehigh is an elite wrestling program and can get him there, though we’ll see what happens if he’s being pulled in both directions.
Gaige Garcia to Lehigh
- Thread starter RoverNation05
- Start date
I'm guessing this highlights the difficulty in assessing talent for those that are special but play weak teams that SCA plays. Maybe just an over reach but who wouldn't take a ride at Michigan. By weak, I mean relative to a steady diet of 6A-5A comp. No disrespect meant.
Lehigh had some fine teams back in the day when I was a little dude, dad taking me to his alma mater Gettysburg College for some great MAC matchups; Temple, Lehigh, Delaware (!), Lafayette, Bucknell, etc.
Lehigh had some fine teams back in the day when I was a little dude, dad taking me to his alma mater Gettysburg College for some great MAC matchups; Temple, Lehigh, Delaware (!), Lafayette, Bucknell, etc.
I don’t think he got a ride at Michigan. I never really could figure that out - all of his offers (in football) were Patriot League/Ivy League and high academic FCS, then he committed to Michigan. Like I said in my post, he was absolutely a Big Ten prospect as a wrestler (he was top 5 in the country at his weight despite not wrestling at all out of season due to football) but I don’t think there was any evaluation of him as a Big Ten football player. Frankly, I thought the football thing was an accounting trick to help out Sean Bormet and free up his money for a year when Harbaugh was under the scholarship limit.
Ok thanks. I assumed it was football. Like to see his exploits again on the field!....and wonder if he can just pick up where he left off in wrestling after a pause given what must be an arduous training regimen.
The big thing with him trying to do both is weight. He’ll wrestle 197, but if you’re that sized at running back, you better run a 4.3 (at least if you want to play at Michigan, Lehigh is a little different), but bulking to a fullback/H-back takes him out of range to make the cut. Again, all of my indications are he’d be a fabulous Patriot League football player, but he’s national caliber as a wrestle. We’ll see what happens trying to do both. He’s definitely a wresting background guy - his dad Mike was a 3x state champ at Mount Carmel and was a massive recruit for Buckner (that took the whole program down in an NCAA scandal).
Doing both is definitely a challenge. Josh Hokit at Fresno State All American’d at 197 after playing fullback and scoring 9 touchdowns for their football team, but that’s the only example I can remember. From up our way, Ryan Hluschak tried to do both at Lehigh, ended up transferring to Drexel to just wrestle and AA’d, but part of that was cutting down to 157 instead of his football playing weight. Jason Groller did both at Shippensburg and was a D2 AA, but that’s a lot different than Lehigh. Jan Johnson got asked to help the wresting team out at Penn State after some injuries, so probably not a fair comparison, but he struggled wrestling heavyweight after playing linebacker in the Big Ten, that’s probably the best analogue to what Garcia was trying to do.
Doing both is definitely a challenge. Josh Hokit at Fresno State All American’d at 197 after playing fullback and scoring 9 touchdowns for their football team, but that’s the only example I can remember. From up our way, Ryan Hluschak tried to do both at Lehigh, ended up transferring to Drexel to just wrestle and AA’d, but part of that was cutting down to 157 instead of his football playing weight. Jason Groller did both at Shippensburg and was a D2 AA, but that’s a lot different than Lehigh. Jan Johnson got asked to help the wresting team out at Penn State after some injuries, so probably not a fair comparison, but he struggled wrestling heavyweight after playing linebacker in the Big Ten, that’s probably the best analogue to what Garcia was trying to do.
I understand his brother ,a senior at SC has offers from the service academies among a few others. A very nice RB .