PISCATAWAY, N.J. – With preseason rankings beginning to publish, Intermat pegged Rutgers wrestling the No. 14 dual team and the No. 15 tournament team ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. The Scarlet Knights are ranked in eight out of 10 weights by the publication, including top-10 rankings for No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (133), No. 5 John Poznanski (184) and No. 8 Jackson Turley (174).
 
RU student-athletes still have time to certify a certain weight that may not reflect in current preseason rankings. Intermat also did not include any true freshmen in its preseason poll.
 
No. 13 Sammy Alvarez (141), No. 15 Greg Bulsak (197), No. 27 Michael VanBrill (149), No. 31 Dylan Shawver (125), and No. 33 Robert Kanniard (157) also earned recognition in their respective weight classes. Rutgers returns three All-Americans – Poznanski, Rivera and Turley – along with NCAA qualifiers VanBrill and Billy Janzer (197) from last season.
 
Rivera wrapped up his first year with the Scarlet Knights with his third All-America honor after he also finished fourth at this year's NCAA Championships. The two-time Big Ten Champion finished 12-3 during the abbreviated 2021 campaign and led the Scarlet Knights with a perfect 4-0 mark and team-high 15 points in dual action. Rivera has produced 84 victories during his collegiate career.
 
Poznanski went 11-4 in his first collegiate season en route to All-America laurels and a third-place finish at the 2021 Big Ten Championships. Poznanski became the highest true freshman finisher at the national tournament in program history and helped RU secure two NCAA Championship semifinalists for the second consecutive national tournament. The Colonia, New Jersey, native finished with an 8-3 mark against ranked foes and a 3-1 record in dual action.
 
Turley wrestled himself into the starting lineup at the end of the 2021 season and earned an at-large selection to the 2021 NCAA Championships. After an opening-round loss at NCAAs, Turley collected four-consecutive victories to lock up All-America laurels at 174 pounds. As the No. 26 seed, his run to the podium included upsets over the No. 6, 9, 17 and 23 seeds at the national tournament.
 
Under the guidance of head coach Scott Goodale, Rutgers closed the 2021 season with three All-Americans in the same year for the first time in program history. Along with two-time NCAA qualifiers Janzer and VanBrill, the Scarlet Knights produced 13 victories at nationals en route to a 13th-place finish with 37.5 team points. RU also welcomes one of the top freshmen class in the country this fall, which includes New Jersey standouts Michael Cetta, Joey Olivieri, Dean Peterson, Dylan Weaver and Anthony White.