Matty Bianchi still remembers the multiple times Little Rock coach Neil Erisman showed up at his family’s home in Two Rivers, Wisc., to first recruit his older brother Joey and later himself to wrestle for Arkansas school, beginning shortly before the Trojans held their first NCAA Division I varsity campaign in 2019-20.

“He said, ‘We want to build this team around your family and you guys are going to be a huge stepping stone in building this team,’” recalled Matty, the former four-time state Wisconsin state champ who grew up in a community 45 miles southeast of Green Bay and along Lake Michigan. “Back then, it was hard to picture it, but seeing what has happened now, it’s been amazing.”

“I remember our conversation with them that this program was going to be built by people like the Bianchi brothers,” said Erisman. “They could be the staple of this program from the way they lived their lives, the way they trained as well as their goals and aspirations. Everything fit in line with what we were wanting to do. We felt they were going to be a backbone of this program.”

And both Joey and Matty … as well as their oldest brother Paul — who transferred to Little Rock from North Dakota State for that inaugural season in Little Rock — certainly have put their names in the school’s first wrestling record books:

— Paul became the school’s first national qualifier in 2021 as a graduate student at 133 pounds;

— Joey, who spent six seasons at LR in a Covid-interrupted career, was a four-year starter for the Trojans and qualified for two NCAA tournaments at 165 pounds, including last season as a graduate student after winning a second straight Pac-12 championship;    

— And Matty became just the school’s fourth All-American, when he finished seventh at 157 pounds after qualifying for his second national tournament last March in Philadelphia, where the Trojans — with seven national qualifiers -- earned a second straight Top-20 finish.

There are many similarities among the sons of parents Joe and Neysa Bianchi (pronounced BEE-AHN-KEY) — especially towards their approach to wrestling.

“We all have a very similar personality and like to crack jokes,” Matty said. “But we can also flip a switch and focus and work hard and really try to grow a wrestling mindset and IQ and give our all on the mat every single time. I don’t think any of us felt like we lost a match due to effort.”

And there are differences in their wrestling styles.

“Paul was a very basic wrestler, but very good at the fundamentals,” Matty said. “He was very calm and was someone I looked up to because he was also the starter of a dual when he either wrestled 125 or 133 and had to get the ball rolling.

“Joey had a little more flair, where he would hit some big moves. He loved hitting some big mat returns and would get in some crazy positions.

“With me, I worked with the Askrens (Max and Ben, at the Askren Academy in his home state) long enough, I was able to develop a little bit of funk and create scrambles, while still do the basics. I just like to go hard and get in gritty matches. I really love getting bloody and go at it.”

And make no mistake about it, Matty has always been his own man, on and off the mat.

“I told (coach Erisman) when he came on the house visit, I told him that I don’t want you to be throwing me a (recruiting) bone because you coached two of my brothers.

“I actually asked him, ‘Do you want me?’ He said, ‘I want you, not because of your name. I want you because the way you wrestle, your character.’ That sparked something in me. I didn’t care if any other people thought it, but I didn’t want to get recruited just to keep my brothers happy.”

Five years later, Erisman sees even more unique personality features in the youngest Bianchi.

“Matty is goofy in a fun way and Matty is also his own person,” Erisman said. “Paul and Joey would get in line and will quickly jump on board. Matty is also very respectful and obedient but he will also push back and do things the way he wants to do. That’s what separates himself in that he is very self-aware and very self-disciplined for what he needs. He’s not going to take any answer up-front but will take control of his own destiny.”

Matt certainly accomplished that task last March, when he won reached the quarterfinals and eventually finished seventh with a 4-2 win over Oklahoma State’s Caleb Fish.

All six of his NCAA bouts as a #11 seed last March were close, including an opening 5-2 sudden victory over a former All-American Ed Scott of NC State, followed by 5-4 win over Northern Iowa’s Ryder Downey. Then after losing 4-3 to eventual champ Antrell Taylor of Nebraska, the Trojan clinched All-American status with a 2-1 sudden victory over Tommy Askey of Minnesota.

“I said to myself that every match was going to be a dog fight; every match is going to go to the last second,” recalled Matty who was 27-6 in 2024-25. “I told myself that I wanted these matches to be hard and wanted to see how far my opponents were willing to go. I was going to take them into deep waters and wanted to see who was going to drown or who was going to swim?”

Matty’s ride to such honors has not been easy. In fact, he nearly quit after winning just one of three bouts against Division I foes while redshirting as a true freshman in 2021-22.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to wrestle anymore,” Matty admitted. “I didn’t know if I had it. I went home over the summer and went to (Max Askren). He put a lot of accountability on me. The biggest question that he asked me was, ‘How often do you think about wrestling?’

“I sat there a little bit and said, ‘Maybe in practice or an hour and half a day.’

“He gave me a look and said, ‘That’s not enough.’ He reminded me that I’m in control of my own (wrestling) career. Am I asking for enough private workouts? Am I getting out of practice what I need to get out of it?

“This really changed my mindset about trying to get better and stack up those good days.

“Ben (Askren) also gave me a huge quote last year. He likes to talk in percentages. He said, ‘You can get one percent better every year in your strength and probably one percent better in your conditioning. But the area you can grow the most in is in your skills. That’s where you make the jumps.’

“That sparked something in me because I love to work hard, but I was not putting my efforts in the right area. Did I need to be running 30 minutes or could I have done a 30-minute private workout? Instead of doing workouts where your mind does not need to think, lifting and running, it would be a lot more beneficial to me if I put 20 minutes in a private workout where I talk about things, work on a few moves and feel good about that.”

Matty, whose career record stands at 62-30, will end his college journey at 165 pounds, where he will see many new wrestlers this winter, including another Wisconsin native and Askren Academy alum in Penn State’s defending NCAA champion Mitchell Mesenbrink.

“I’ve known him for a long time and we’ve wrestled each other since we were 9 or 10 years old,” Matty recalled. “We’ve always had cool matches. He’s on top of the pyramid right now. I know it’s going to take everything I have to reach him and get a chance to be in a match with him and get a win. I know it’s going to come down to inches and seconds.

“Having that motivation in the back of my mind, and knowing that this is my last year, I have to give everything that I have got to beat this guy. He’s there for motivational purposes and I’m glad that he’s there and he’ s going to push me past my limits.”

This year also wraps of the careers of the Bianchi brothers at Little Rock. How does Matty want to be remembered?

“There is a big sign in our wrestling room, which says, ‘Grit.’ When people see that word, ‘Grit’, I want them to think of me,” he said. “I did not have Cinderella story from the git-go and people thought I was done or just be an average wrestler in college. But I’ve continued to be gritty and kept going through the fire, showing up every day and doing the right things, even when others were not watching.”

They are watching Matty Bianchi now.

Watch Little Rock home duals live this season on Flowrestling.