Head coach Barry Davis caught up with UWBadgers.com to summarize program updates and summer happenings with the Wisconsin wrestling team.

On working with the younger athletes over the summer:
"Well the young guys like that, with Eli and Martin and Ritter, you're doing skill work with their weight changing at the same time. As a staff, we have to be on them a bit more, a little more hands-on with those guys and making sure they're doing the right things. They're coming in, their body weights down and body fats down, and their bodies are going to change a lot from where it is now. But we're keeping that strength up. There's already a lot of focus with those guys there. Plus, with a lot of young guys too, definitely doing a lot of skill work. One-on-one, lot of skill work that way, working with the before practice, after practice or come in during their day in summertime to make sure their skills are at a higher level because there's no doubt that Eli got a lot of experience last year and so did Martin and Ritter, because they redshirted.

When you redshirt, you're open to tournaments but it's not the level of competition you'd see during the season, dual-meet wise. It's important that we spend time with those guys too, one-on-one and make sure their skill work is at a higher level.

But there's still work to do, they understand what we're going to do to get back in here. We had an eight-week training period, so for the eight weeks you're here, some guys had school and things going on with family vacations, so we allowed for that, because it's the summertime. But still in summertime, it's when you make your biggest gains as far as training. They all did a good job doing that."
 
On freshman Jacob Covaciu training with the team over the summer:
"We're hoping we can do that again next year with the kids we've got coming in. By him being here this summer, working camp, training with our guys and being in the room, he's feeling what's different from high school to college. Again one-on-one stuff, learning better position and better ties, that sort of thing.
It is a different level. To get used to Billy Breider downstairs and his lifting and training program, it's a good beginning for him, because now he's been here, he's been with the guys and he knows what to expect. The intensity level, the lifting program, all of those type of things. He's coming in and not missing a beat, where the Wicks (freshmen Evan Wick and Zander Wick) have been gone, they're going to adjust very quickly, but it'll still be an adjustment for those guys."