With just a few weeks until the start of the 2022-23 men’s wrestling season, preseason individual and team national rankings have been released across InterMat, WIN, and Flo.

Here’s a breakdown of where the Hawkeyes rank heading into the season and my lineup projections.

Team (No. 2 InterMat, WIN, Flo)

The Hawkeyes come in at No. 2 behind reigning national champion Penn State. Iowa finished third in the team race at the NCAA Championships last season — an underwhelming finish after capturing Iowa’s first national title in 11 years in 2020-21.

Iowa was plagued with injuries during the 2021-22 postseason, as the Hawkeyes entered the year with three returning NCAA finalists, and none of them made it past the quarterfinal round.

Spencer Lee, who won his third 125-pound individual title in 2020-21, missed the second half of the 2021-22 season with a knee injury. Jaydin Eierman, who finished second at 141 pounds in 2020-21, battled knee problems at the Big Ten and NCAA Championships last season. And Michael Kemerer, who was runner-up at 174 pounds in 2020-21, fought through a shoulder injury for all of 2021-22.

Head coach Tom Brands, heading into his 17th season with Iowa wrestling, brought in 14 freshmen and three transfers ahead of the 2022-23 season to fill the holes left by five All-Americans — Kemerer, Eierman, Austin DeSanto, Kaleb Young, and Alex Marinelli.

125 POUNDS: Spencer Lee (No. 1 InterMat, WIN, Flo)

Lee is seeking to become the fifth-ever four-time NCAA wrestling champion during his sixth and final year for the Hawkeyes. Lee won the national championship in 2020-21 with two torn ACLs and went 3-0 in 2021-22 before deciding to undergo season-ending surgery to repair both knees.

The two-time Hodge Trophy winner enters this season with a career record of 75-8, and after months of recovery, it looks like Lee will continue to write his name in the history books.

I expect sophomore Drake Ayala to redshirt this season. Ayala burned his redshirt last season as he filled in for injured Lee in the 125-pound weight class. Ayala posted a 17-8 record and placed eighth in the Big Ten Championships.

133 POUNDS: Cullan Schriever (No. 15 InterMat, No.17 WIN)

Schriever, out of Mason City, Iowa, is going into his sophomore year for the Hawkeyes, but his situation has been different from a typical two-year.

During the NCAA’s free COVID year in 2020, Schriever went 3-1 for the Hawkeyes, which did not count against his eligibility.

Schriever posted a 15-5 record last season, and his experience has put him as a contender at 133 pounds.

133 POUNDS: Brody Teske (No. 15 Flo)

Teske is one of the transfers Brands brought in ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Teske committed to Penn State out of high school and posted an 11-6 record over two seasons with the Nittany Lions. After the 2019-20 season, Teske transferred to the University of Northern Iowa.

He was a Big 12 champion for the Panthers in 2021 and runner-up at the conference meet in 2022, qualifying for nationals at 125 pounds in both years.

Now, as a junior at Iowa, Teske is expected to be up a class at 133 pounds and will be competing for a spot against Schriever.

141 POUNDS: Real Woods (No. 2 InterMat, WIN, Flo)

Woods, a junior out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is another transfer set to make an immediate impact in 2022-23.

Woods spent the last three years at Stanford University, where he earned two All-America honors and two Pac-12 championships.

He comes to Iowa with a 42-8 career record and is expected to replace Eierman, who was a four-time all-American at 141 pounds.

149 POUNDS: Max Murin (No. 7 InterMat, Flo, No. 8 WIN)

In his redshirt senior year, Murin is expected to compete at 149 pounds for the second season in a row. He previously wrestling at 141 pounds from 2017-20.

Murin is coming off a 14-5 record and third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships in 2021-22. He will have a challenging road ahead as the 149-pound class returns some highly prized wrestlers in Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso and Cornell’s three-time national champion Yianni Diakomihalis.

157 POUNDS: Bretli Reyna (No. 33 InterMat)

Reyna redshirted in the 2021-22 season, going 6-5 in unattached matches at 149 pounds.

With the departure of 157-pound three-time All-American Young, Reyna is in the mix to bump up a weight class to fill the hole. Reyna went 0-2 at 157 pounds in the 2020-21 season.

While junior Cobe Siebrecht is not ranked, he is another potential Hawkeye that could compete for the 157-pound spot. Siebrecht went 5-2 at 149 pounds last season, winning a title at the Luther Open.

165 POUNDS: Patrick Kennedy (No. 17 InterMat, No. 18 Flo, No. 19 WIN)

Kennedy went 17-2 last season while competing unattached. His only losses came against Marinelli at the Luther Open and West Virginia’s Peyton Hall at the Southern Scuffle. In May 2022, he won a U23 men’s freestyle national championship at the World Team Trials in Ohio.

Kennedy is looking to replace Marinelli, who was Iowa’s 22nd four-time All-American and eighth four-time Big Ten Champion.

174 POUNDS: Nelson Brands (No. 15 InterMat, No. 16 Flo)

Brands wrestled at 184 pounds for his first two seasons at Iowa. When Kemerer, the Hawkeyes’ first five-time All-American, injured his left shoulder last season, Brands bumped down to 174 pounds. Brands went 5-1 at 174 pounds last season and currently sits at 22-11 overall. I think he will stay in the 174-pound weight class this season.

184 POUNDS: Abe Assad (No. 12 InterMat, Flo, No. 14 WIN)

The junior out of Carol Stream, Illinois, posted a 14-10 record last year at 184 pounds while placing seventh at the Big Ten Championships.

Assad is seeking his first individual Big Ten and national title, but he will have to go through Penn State’s No. 1-ranked two-time NCAA and Big Ten champion, Aaron Brooks.

197 POUNDS: Jacob Warner (No. 2 InterMat, WIN, Flo)

The redshirt senior comes into this season as Iowa’s 23rd four-time All-American with a record of 75-20.

Warner was the only Hawkeye to qualify for the NCAA finals last season, and he lost, 3-2, to Penn State’s Max Dean.

Warner is seeking his first Big Ten and national title, and with Dean back this year for the Nittany Lions, a rematch of the NCAA Championship match will take place on Jan. 27 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Heavyweight: Tony Cassioppi (No. 4 InterMat, WIN, Flo)

Cassioppi is one of the national heavyweight favorites coming into this season. He placed second at the Big Ten Championships last year and seventh at nationals, bringing his overall record to 52-10.

Despite the departure of Minnesota’s two-time NCAA heavyweight champion Gable Steveson, Cassioppi will have a tough path to a Big Ten or national title, as Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet and Michigan’s Mason Parris rank inside the top three. Cassioppi is 0-3 all-time against Parris but is 3-0 in his career against Kerkvliet.