There’s good and bad about Illinois’s 2024-25 season.

The good: a top 10 finish at the NCAA Championships, a fifth-place finish at Big Tens, and Lucas Byrd became the program’s first NCAA champion since Isaiah Martinez in 2016.

The bad: four Round of 12 losses at the NCAA tournament, and two were overtime setbacks in favored match-ups. Had Illinois won both, the Fighting Illini would have finished fifth. 

Still, Byrd’s NCAA title catapulted Illinois into the national spotlight, and head coach Michael Poeta showed he is making gains following national finishes of 25th (2022), 31st (2023), 38th (2024), and 10th (2025). 

“Seeing four guys lose in the Round of 12, that’s not fun at all,” Poeta said. “It breaks your heart for those guys. I know how much it has motivated them, but that Friday night was difficult for us and a lot of those guys. Byrd made up for it. It eased the pain. Every coach at the NCAA tournament can talk about a win here or a win there and how different a tournament they would have had as a team.

“I think we have a better team (this year). I think we filled the holes nicely. We filled the gaps. We have some freshmen who will enter the line-up who were redshirting last year. I look at us, top to bottom, as a tougher team to beat and more guys that can make deep runs at the NCAAs.”

As a redshirt freshman, Kannon Webster reached the quarterfinals but lost his next two matches. He trained in Russia for a month and showed rare commitment this summer when a teammate needed a workout. 

Poeta sent a message on the team group chat, but no one was in Champaign. Webster messaged back privately that he was at a Young Guns camp in Pennsylvania, but he was willing to drive through the night to make it happen. 

“How amazing is that for one workout? He was going to go so far out of his way and inconvenience himself so much,” Poeta said. 

Some weights are far from set, notably 149, 184, and 197. All-American Edmond Ruth might return to the team if the NCAA clears him for another season.

Illinois will also compete at the inaugural National Duals Invitational on November 15-16 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“We’re excited for it,” Poeta said. “There are great teams. “Great competition. There’s money on the line. It’s cool and unique to our sport.”

2025-26 Illinois Overview

Head coach: Michael Poeta (fifth season)

Assistants: Jeremy Hunter, Austin O’Connor, Bryan Medlin, Eric Schultz

2025 NCAA tournament finish: 10th

2025 NCAA tournament record: 20-14

2025 NCAA tournament points: 44.5

2025 Big Ten tournament finish: 5th

2025 dual record: 9-4 (4-4)

Returning All-Americans: 2 (Lucas Byrd, Edmond Ruth)

Returning national qualifiers: 9 (Spencer Moore, Lucas Byrd, Danny Pucino, Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles, Chris Moore, Edmond Ruth, Dylan Connell, Luke Luffman)

Key Off-Season Transfers: Spencer Moore (North Carolina), Michael Gioffre (Virginia), Cade Lautt (North Carolina)

Last NCAA champion: Lucas Byrd (2025)

Highest NCAA team finish: 2nd (1930, 1938)

Highest NCAA team finish under Poeta: 10th

Most national placers in a season under Poeta: 1 (2022, 2024, 2025)

Prospective Line-up

125: Spencer Moore, SR or Caelan Riley, JR
Illinois has two options, headlined by North Carolina transfer Spencer Moore. Moore qualified for the 2021 Cadet World Championships and reached the Round of 16 at the 2025 NCAA Championships. He’s down to his final season, so this is an opportunity to make the podium. Riley could contend after starting last season, but missing the national tournament.

Poeta on 125: “Spencer transferred from North Carolina and is attached at the hip to (assistant coach) Jeremy Hunter. When that happens, watch out. You become dangerous. Hunter has done that for 25 years at Illinois. Everyone he has connected with grows to levels people haven’t seen before. He and Spencer have done that. Spencer is a goer. He moves forward non-stop.”

133: Lucas Byrd, SR
Byrd was 23-1 last season, dropping a match to Iowa’s Drake Ayala in the dual before avenging the loss in the Big Ten and NCAA finals. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native has finished 5th, 5th, R12, and 1st at the NCAA Championships, and will complete his college career this season. 

Poeta on 133: “He’s on that high-tail end where NCAA guys can’t go the full season and have a hard time with it in folkstyle. With Byrd last year, we gave them an extra day off. Folkstyle is harder training than anything else. He’s feeling good.”

141: Danny Pucino, SR
Pucino returns from his best season. He compiled a 15-8 record and went 2-2 at the NCAA Championships. Poeta thinks he can accomplish more during his senior campaign. 

Poeta on 141: “Danny has hovered as the 10th to 15th best wrestler at his weight class for three years — and he is so much better. It’s an honor to be ranked that high in the country. Danny is more special than that. I think he’s worked hard on his mindset, where he believes he can beat all these guys. His wrestling skills are as good as anybody's.”

149: Michael Gioffre, JR, or Ryan Bennett, FR, or Danny Nini, JR
This weight is open with Kannon Webster moving up to 157. Gioffre competed at the 2025 ACC Championships and is the only option with postseason experience. Bennett was 5-6 during his redshirt season, and Nini has a 20-14 career college record. 

Poeta on 149: “All three train hard. There’s a lot of potential there. I’ve seen the same from them all summer, where there’s a lot of extra workouts and they’re pushing through a lot of pain. I believe whoever comes out is going to have a great season, but I don’t know who that is.”

157: Kannon Webster, SO
Webster completed his freshman year 16-8 and reached the Round of 12 at the NCAA Championships. He’s competitive in most matches against high-level competition, but fell to eventual NCAA Ridge Lovett 12-0 in the NCAA Championship quarters after losing 1-0 in the Big Ten finals. He notched a 4-2 win over Penn State’s Shayne Van Ness to reach the finals. 

Poeta on 157: “Kannon is there. He needs to be more offensive, and he knows that. His shots from last year could have gotten better. He’s hitting world-class shots right now, and they weren’t like that last year. He had a good pace and got a lot of scores, but his attacks could have gone up.

“A lot of people go to their comfort zone over the summer. They work hard but focus on their strengths. It’s hard to admit your weaknesses and attack them, and try to get better. As wrestlers, we are so used to being so good at what we’re doing. Now you have to be bad at something and look stupid at the start to try something. Kannon knew he had to get more explosive and cover more ground on his shots.”

165: Braeden Scoles, SO
Scoles was 18-7 last season, reaching the Round of 12 at the NCAA Championships. He lost his quarterfinal match to Oklahoma State’s Cameron Amine, 8-1 in sudden victory. 

Poeta on 165: “I love (Braedan). He’s such a good kid. When names come up, with zero ego and complete honesty, he believes he will win. He says it with such humbleness and such toughness. It might not happen, but he’s going to go out there to do it. He has an inner belief that his opponent will go through war to beat him. It’s automatic.”

174: Colin Kelly, FR
Kelly didn’t compete during his true freshman season and will likely take over the 174-pound spot. 

Poeta on 174: “Right when (Kelly) got to Illinois, he got an injury and they told him he’d have to sit out for three months. He was devastated. He was crushed. He was still doing every workout he could do around that, but he couldn’t wrestle for three months. 

“At three months, he got an MRI, and the trainer told him the results were good. Colin came into practice and told me that he couldn’t wrestle live for two weeks. I started hysterically laughing. A guy who has been out for three months can start drilling, but can’t wrestle live for two weeks, and he was about to start crying. He gets after it. He’s put together. His technique is great. I’m excited.”

184: Edmond Ruth, SR or Chris Moore, SO
Moore started as a true freshman, qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships at 165, and redshirted last season, compiling a 17-6 record at 174. Ruth is a returning All-American who finished third at the 2025 Big Ten Championships and reached the Round of 12 at nationals. Illinois is exploring another year of eligibility after Ruth sat out two seasons at Lehigh. 

Poeta on 184: “We’re talking about Edmond Ruth, and he’s a Big Ten champion and he’s an All-American — and he knows he’s not the front runner at 184. There’s no frontrunner. Chris Moore is legit. He took seventh at the Senior Trials and beat Brayden Thompson for seventh. He’s gotten himself into the conversation with the big boys. Edmond has wrestled with him enough. He knows how much of a challenge it will be. Those two will have to duke it out.” 

197: Cade Lautt, SR or Dylan Connell, SR
Lautt transferred from North Carolina, where he finished 16-12 but didn’t qualify for nationals. Connell didn’t start last season but qualified for the 2023 NCAA Championships. 

Poeta on 197: “Dylan Connell was a national qualifier who had to sit behind Edmond last year at 184, and he’s bumping up to 197. It’s similar to 149, where it’s going to be a battle. We like that we got Cade. He’s been great for us. He and Connell will be battling.”

285: Luke Luffman, SR
Luffman is a three-time national qualifier who reached the Round of 12 last season. He was 19-8 in 2025 and has a 67-41 career college record. 

Poeata on 285: “(Luke) needs a little more offense. He could have won every match that he lost at the NCAAs. We just have to fine-tune a little bit. He’s got the mentality. He’s got the technique. Some generational heavyweights have cleared out. 

“We have this great bond over the disrespect that he gets. Luke has beaten Trent Hillger, Cohlton Schultz, and Ben Kueter, and he never gets mentioned. We love it. Keep it that way.”