He’s largely flown under the radar at 165 pounds so far this season, but Nebraska’s #13 LJ Araujo has put together an impressive freshman season so far.

After redshirting at 174 pounds a year ago, Araujo is down at 165 as a redshirt freshman and has an 8-1 record. Seven of his wins have come against wrestlers who are either ranked now or were ranked at the time, highlighted by a pin over #8 Max Brignola of Lehigh, a 4-3 win over #14 Maxx Mayfield of Missouri, and a 5-3 decision over #22 Gunner Filipowicz of Army.

Araujo’s lone loss was a 10-1 major decision loss to #12 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State at National Duals — a match where Araujo suffered a second hamstring injury that weekend.

According to Nebraska associate head coach Bryan Snyder, Araujo is now at his ideal weight class, although he may still grow into 174. Araujo dropped to 165 this year, while last year’s 165-pound All-American #8 Christopher Minto moved up to 174. According to Snyder, Minto arrived on campus smaller but has gotten much bigger while they anticipated Araujo getting bigger based on the size of his dad, yet that hasn’t materialized to this point.

“(Araujo) is now in the right weight class. He can still probably grow into 65 a little bit,” Snyder said. “We kind of saw the writing on the wall a little bit, and those guys did too. It was a good move for the program and for (Minto) and LJ.”

“It was perfect — I was too small at ‘74,” Araujo said. “I still don’t have to cut much. All the guys give me crap on the team like ‘You’re not even cutting that much weight and you went down a weight class.’ I just planned on being a ‘74-pounder when I got to college, so I just needed to get bigger and I never did. Shrinking down to ‘65 was definitely the right move.”

A U20 World bronze medalist in freestyle for Brazil in 2024 at 79 kg, Araujo started the year unranked but has quickly shot up the rankings with a number of quality wins, including ranked wins over Mayfield and Brown’s #29 Max Norman this past weekend at the Hustle in the Heartland.

“The early success that LJ is having is not a shock to anybody on the staff. He does everything we ask above and beyond what we ask,” Snyder said. “I think he has more to give, to be honest with you. What we’ve seen from him is good, but sometimes it takes a little bit as a freshman to get your legs underneath you a little bit. He’s going to get better as the year goes on for sure.”

A five-time North Dakota state champion in high school, Araujo initially caught Snyder’s eye after his sophomore season when he won a 152-pound National Championship at Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the spring of 2023. He was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. He followed that up in the fall of 2023 with a Super 32 title at 165 pounds just days after committing to Nebraska. He was named the upperweight OW at that tournament as well.

“I fell in love with LJ when he was a sophomore wrestling over at Preseason Nationals over in Cedar Falls at that point,” Snyder said. “We loved everything about him — his story, the way he wrestled being stingy, very good character, great family and was raised right.”

Coming out of high school, Araujo was known for his prowess from the top position, a skill he’s successfully translated to the college game. In his nine total matches this season, he’s ended 10 total periods in the top position for ride-outs. In fact, five of his opponents have chosen neutral against Araujo. He rode the entire period against three of the four that chose to go under him (Brignola, Filipowicz and Norman). The one who got away was #29 Evan Maag of George Mason, who gave up two near-fall points before getting a reversal in a 6-5 loss to Araujo.

“He’s really good on the top — he’s elite, and not only as a rider but he’s dangerous and can turn you,” Snyder said. “He attacks the top position like all the really good top wrestlers do. They don’t hold on, they don’t try to count the clock to the end of the period. It’s a difference maker when somebody doesn’t want to go underneath you.”

“I think it’s smart on their part (to choose neutral), but I was just kind of shocked because even Paddy Gallagher wouldn’t go down against me,” Araujo said. “It honestly gives me more confidence that if I do get on top, they’re not getting away from me. If you’re scared to go down against somebody, then that must mean that you don’t think you can get away, right? At that point, all I have to do is go get the takedown and there’s the ride-out because they’re already scared to go down.”

Yes, Araujo arrived on campus with elite top-level skills, but he’s just begun to hone them, according to Snyder, especially considering he’s been working closely with 2025 NCAA champion Ridge Lovett in individual workouts. If anyone knows what it’s like to have opponents choose neutral, it’s Lovett.

“It’s an area where he’s just scratching the surface — he gets to wrestle with Ridge Lovett,” Snyder said. “He does individuals with Ridge Lovett, so he’s learning from the best.”

“Ridge is awesome to work with for top,” Araujo said. “Honestly, I think I just need to open up and look for a little bit more turns on top — I think that’ll make me a lot more dangerous. I feel pretty confident because I’ve been able to ride most guys, but I need to start getting a few more turns on top and just blow matches open.”

Going forward, we’re certain to find out where Araujo sits nationally. He has scheduled duals coming up against #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, #2 LaDarion Lockett, #3 Michael Caliendo, #4 Joey Blaze, #7 Ryder Downey, #9 Braeden Scoles and #10 Andrew Sparks — and those are just guys in the Top 10.

These opponents pose a significant challenge, but Araujo feels like he’s up for it.

“I’m excited that I get to wrestle Mesenbrink and just feel what he’s like. I get to wrestle Caliendo and Lockett. I get to wrestle a bunch of these guys who are good, and I think I can beat them. I don’t see why I can’t,” Araujo said. “It’s just good to feel those guys and get my hands on them and know what it’s like to wrestle those guys. I feel like a lot of guys like that get hyped up, and I feel like I give them too much respect sometimes, and once I get my hands on them, I’m like ‘Oh, they’re not Superman.’ They’re still a human being like me, so there’s no reason they can’t get beat.”

Freshman Ziola Looking Impressive

After a disappointing Day 2 at National Duals, Nebraska got back in the win column at the Hustle in the Heartland with wins over Brown (44-3) and Missouri (27-10). 

Nebraska had a lot to feel good about there with redshirt freshman Kael Lauridsen beating Missouri’s #22 Mack Mauger at 125 pounds, #8 Jacob Van Dee beating #23 Kade Moore at 133, #3 Brock Hardy pouring on the points in a 19-4 tech over #19 Zeke Seltzer, and #8 Minto scoring 12 takedowns in a pair of technical fall wins. 

But it was true freshman Cade Ziola who stole the show wrestling in place of #3 AJ Ferrari at heavyweight. He beat Brown’s Alex Semenenko and Missouri’s Jacobi Jackson both via 20-5 tech. Ziola scored 11 takedowns, two reversals and three back points in those two matches. Semenenko was 9-0 going into that match, while Jackson is a former Northern Illinois starter.

An in-state recruit out of Omaha Skutt, Ziola is a Nebraska prep hero and arguably the best wrestling prospect the state has ever produced. He won a title at Ironman and was a Fargo freestyle finalist in high school.

“If you know Cade, you know that he loves the Huskers and he loves wrestling — he was so excited to compete with the Husker singlet on,” Snyder said. “He wrestles extremely hard, and he’s getting better in areas, and he has a couple areas he’s really elite at, arguably maybe his most elite characteristic is his pace and his love for the sport, and those two things can carry you a long way. He’s turning into the guy that we imagined he’s going to be, and he’s doing it pretty dang quick.”

Earlier in the season, Ziola wrestled at the Bison Open, where he beat Minnesota’s #10 Koy Hopke 8-7 but fell to his Gopher teammate Bennett Tabor 6-2 in the final — his lone loss on the year.

If you watched those matches at the Hustle in the Heartland, you noticed a big size difference between Ziola and his opponents. Ziola currently weighs in around 220 or 225 pounds, but the Husker staff anticipates him putting on some good weight after the season.

“He’s probably not going to put significant size on until after this season just with as much as we wrestle,” Snyder said. “It also goes to show you that at 220, if you’re strong — and he’s long as well, which is kind of miserable to wrestle — you can make up a lot of weight, especially if you wrestle hard, have good leg attacks, and your leg defense is good, and you’re constantly pulling on a guy’s head. 

“The goal is to put size on Cade. I don’t know that we have an exact number in mind, but he’s going to put some size on. When you see Cade at 235 or 240, you’re going to go wow, and that’s really just 15 pounds from where he’s at now.”

The thing that makes Ziola so tough to wrestle, though, is rooted in his unorthodox style, according to Snyder. Ziola puts on a serious pace that heavies aren’t used to, including ankle picks, sitting the corner when his opponent shoots in on his legs, and even leaping over his opponent for takedowns. 

“That style isn’t really wrestled at any weight class, and I would say even more so at heavyweight because it’s not something they’re used to,” Snyder said. “He has an incredible pace, and he’s a tough man and he’s OK being tired. We love Cade — what’s not to love, right?”

Nebraska Looking Forward to Cowboy Rematch

At National Duals, Nebraska took on Oklahoma State in the third-place dual, and things didn’t go well for the Huskers. Sending out a skeleton crew, they dropped the dual 33-6.

Due to injuries, Nebraska was down a number of key pieces in that dual. At 125, Nebraska had backup Alan Koehler while 125-pound starter Kael Lauridsen wrestled up at 133, dropping a 9-3 decision to #11 Ronnie Ramirez. At 149, true freshman Nikade Zinkin, who is wrestling in place of #9 Chance Lamer, who isn’t yet eligible, dropped a 7-6 decision to #13 Casey Swiderski, while backup Dez Gartrell fell to #2 Landon Robideau via 21-6 tech at 157. Nebraska then forfeited at 165. Out of the first six weight classes, the only starter in the lineup was #3 Brock Hardy, who fell to #2 Sergio Vega 13-2 by major decision.

“We were just off that day, and it was one of those days where sometimes the stars align and you wrestle lights out, and other days, we just didn’t have it that day,” Snyder said. “We got hurt and dinged up, and it was just a bad day, so we just chalk it up to that. 

“But we’re not going to just write that day off just because we were beat up. We weren’t ready to go. We know that and (coach Mark) Manning knows that, and it drives him crazy. We’re eager and hungry to get the opportunity to compete against those guys again, let’s just say that.”

Nebraska will get that opportunity when it hosts the Cowboys for a dual on Dec. 21. According to Snyder, the fact that his team had to sit and stew on those losses to Oklahoma St. and Ohio State could end up being a good thing.

“Having to sit with that loss for three weeks was tough, especially in our sport where the next week or the week after that you can get back on the mat. I actually think it was good for our guys to sit with that tension a little bit, that little bit of uneasiness in their performance,” Snyder said. “One, we got healthy, and two, we had a really good training cycle. We got better in some areas. 

“Sometimes when you’re going match to match and week to week, you forget that you’re still getting better at the sport and not just prepping for the next guy. Having that extended block of time allowed us to do a couple things like get healthy and really nail down some positions both collectively as a team that we needed to address but also individually. For our guys who are really good competitors, they were hungry and wanted to get back on the mat, but they couldn’t get back on the mat. They had to deal with that tension.”