Jake Morrissey has always been the ultimate competitor.
In four years wrestling at Oconto Falls High School, Morrissey was nearly unstoppable, winning three state titles and capping his senior season by going 44-0.
This year, he’s almost had to take a step back in order to take a step forward. Morrissey is a freshman at Purdue University and early on at practice, it was determined that he will redshirt this season. That will allow Morrissey to have five years to learn and grow in one of the premiere college wrestling programs in the country.
“I’m real happy with that,” Morrissey said. “I can use this year as a learning experience and pick up as much as I can and get into open tournaments and get some mat time in.”
Making the transition from high school wrestling to college is always a big step. That is especially true for an athlete trying to make it in a program that is ranked No. 21 nationally and competes in one of the best conferences, the Big Ten.
“It’s definitely a lot harder than your high school practices and high school workouts,” Morrissey said. “You’ve just got to be ready for it coming into it.”
Absorbing everything wrestling in his redshirt freshman season will certainly benefit Morrissey in the years to come.
“That’s what you should be doing is taking in as much as you can, not taking a back seat to anybody, but coming out to every practice like you’re the man, and that’s what we need him to do,” Purdue head coach Scott Hinkel said. “I think he’s done that.”
The decision to have Morrissey redshirt ended up being quite simple. Morrissey had a wrestle-off with junior Pat Kissel to determine which athlete would get the starting nod at 174 pounds. The battle-tested Kissel won handily.
“We tell all these guys that they’re not going to redshirt and they’re going to wrestle right away. We want them kind of with that mindset to be ready to go,” Hinkel said. “As it panned out, in Jake’s first wrestle-off he got beat pretty good by Pat Kissel, so we kind of had that in mind. We had kind of envisioned Pat being the guy and Jake redshirting and just getting a lot of experience and wealth behind him.”
Morrissey attends Purdue’s home meets to support his teammates but doesn’t travel with the team. He is able to compete on the mat during practice and has been wrestling in open tournaments around the country.
On Jan. 5, Morrissey won the 174 weight class at the Storm Open, which was hosted by Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. Morrissey was dominant in all four of his matches, earning two first-period pins, a second-period pin as well as one pin in the third.
Morrissey finished fifth twice and did not place at two other open tournaments this season.
Over the next two months, Hinkel is hoping Morrissey will get to wrestle in a number of tournaments. In his matches, Morrissey is able to work on things his coaches are teaching him.
“Mostly just fine tuning the basic things and being a little bit more physical and aggressive and keeping the pressure on your opponent,” Morrissey said. “They’re not really changing my style.”
“The work he needs to do now is just get a little bit bigger and stronger in the weight room,” Hinkel said. “He still looks a little small for (174), but he’s been around that weight for a while and we’ve got a great strength program.”
Morrissey was always known as a high motor, great work ethic wrestler in high school. In college, he’s had to work even harder to prepare for stiffer competition.
“Hopefully he continues to get better and understands how close he is to being done with his redshirt and being ready to be the guy,” Hinkel said.
Morrissey has his sights set high for a strong career at Purdue. Hinkel is confident his wrestler will be ready for the limelight next season.
“There’s no doubt he can accomplish a lot here,” Hinkel said. “He should understand and we understand the goal is a national championship. He’s won national-level tournaments (in high school), competed against highly ranked kids. You just have to believe it, and I think he is now.
“We have high expectations for him on and off the mat as a leader, and I think he has the potential to win a national title and pin a lot of people while he’s doing it.”
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