UTC's reluctant heavyweight Jared Johnson has 30 wins

UTC heavyweight Jared Johnson upends VMI's Juan Adams as UTC defeats VMI by a team score of 35-3 on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015, at the Maclellan Gym on the UTC campus in Chattanooga, Tenn.
UTC heavyweight Jared Johnson upends VMI's Juan Adams as UTC defeats VMI by a team score of 35-3 on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015, at the Maclellan Gym on the UTC campus in Chattanooga, Tenn.
photo UTC wrestler Jared Johnson picked up a 6-0 win at 197 points as the Mocs defeated Davidson 37-9 in Southern Conference action.

It is more than fair to describe Jared Johnson as the reluctant heavyweight.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling coach Heath Eslinger knew it all along, long before the Missouri native declined an offer from Oklahoma to sign with Eslinger's Mocs.

"They about had to beat me over the head with a stick," Johnson recalled.

Yet the sophomore is in St. Louis, awaiting his first NCAA tournament match today as a UTC representative.

The tournament starts at noon eastern at the 20,000-seat Scottrade Center with the first round, which will be wrestled on eight mats. The evening session begins at 7 p.m. with first-round wrestle-backs, the second championship round and then second-round consolation matches. Wrestling will continue on Friday leading up to Saturday's championship finals.

There are those among the Mocs who've been here before Sean Boyle (125), who's a No. 5 seed, and Nick Soto (133), now a four-time qualifier but it is a new and exciting time for Johnson, Mike Pongracz (141), Shawn Greevy (149), Sean Mappes (174) and Scottie Boykin (197).

"It's exciting, but it's also more fun and it's still wrestling a circle and a clock set for seven minutes," Eslinger said.

A sophomore, Johnson enters the tournament after having earned his spot as a Southern Conference runner-up. He does so, though, with a 30-9 record against some of the best competition in the country.

"Somebody asked my brother a few weeks ago if we would sign a heavyweight, and I'm thinking, 'He's probably the best we've had here in forever,'" Eslinger said.

Johnson is the best in the Eslinger era, but also brings to mind former Moc Matt Koz, who also was a 197-pounder that made the transition. Now an assistant high school wrestling coach in Strongsville, Ohio, Koz was a transfer from Minnesota, where he wrestled at 197. The burley wrestler competed at both 197 and 285 for UTC and was nationally ranked and made two trips to the NCAA tournament as a heavyweight.

Like Koz and then Mocs coach Chris Bono, Johnson had to be encouraged.

"His redshirt year I felt he should go heavyweight but he wasn't too sure," Eslinger recalled. "You plant the seeds, water them and hope the sun shines."

Johnson grudgingly gave in, but only after talks with his parents, repeated conversations with his coach and squashing inner turmoil.

"I didn't want to wrestle big 285-pound guys, but after making the move I'm glad I did," he said. "It was a great move. I feel better all the time. I don't worry about my weight, and I'm able to compete just as well as at 197."

He doesn't about his weight because he has tipped the scales at little more than 220 pounds this year, and that's eating three meals per day with snacks in between.

"There are advantages for him," Eslinger said.

"I'm quicker. I have better endurance in most cases and I'm more agile," Johnson added. "I'm as strong as most but I don't have the extra weight slowing me down."

He has used the endurance, agility and strength to put together a 30-win season.

"Of the matches I lost all were close except two where I got manhandled, and one of those I was winning and the guy horsed me over, he said. "I'm pleased with what I've done, but I want to finish even better."

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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