For Iowa native and former Hawkeye wrestler Matt McDonough, the excitement surrounding his move back home was less about a specific opportunity in the wrestling world and more about being able to make an impact on those trying to achieve their dreams in the sport. 

For a number of reasons, there has been a huge uptick in the past 10 years in the number of freshmen having success at the Division I level. From 2000-2009, there were four freshmen NCAA champions. From 2010-2019, there 13. That's over a 300% increase! We're now averaging more than one freshman champion per year. Anyway, I love ranking things, and I think many people enjoy critiquing my rankings, so I decided to rank every D1 NCAA title run made by a freshman, true or redshirted, from the past 11 years.

Bader and Bray are joined by Zain Retherford, Matt McDonough, David McFadden & Adam Hall

Just one decade ago, far before the eras of Spencer Lee and The Bull (and way before the coronavirus), Iowa wrestling was dominant.