Ben Kueter’s recent announcement that he will be dedicating himself to wrestling only for the next 10 months isn’t overly surprising considering his talent and the doors open for him to pursue right now.
Sure, it may impact the Iowa Hawkeyes’ linebacker depth chart, but the opportunity Kueter has right now is the U23 Worlds and the NCAA title to focus on. Wisconsin Badgers head football coach Luke Fickell thinks this move could turn into more and may pivot into a full-on wrestling career with football falling by the wayside.
Fickell spoke to Josh Basch on his podcast “Baschamania.”
My guess is he’s going wrestling. I think it’d be hard to turn back. If he has success in wrestling, and I don’t know his career. He’s a great high school guy, great international and stuff like that, made the U23 team. I think it’d be really hard to throw it all in and think you’re gonna go back into football, just because recruiting wise, I mean, there’s going to be more and more guys. – Luke Fickell
Fickell has been outspoken about his preference for guys playing multiple high school sports and how that can breed success. Once it gets to the college level, it becomes so much harder with the time commitments.
Everybody’s journey is different and I’ll be really encouraged to watch his journey and see how it goes. I think it’s 10 times more difficult to do both of them today than even was when I was in college … The guys are just so good now. – Luke Fickell
Kueter, a four-star signee from Iowa City, was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in Iowa per 247Sports’ composite rankings as part of the class of 2023. Despite being listed at 220 pounds on the Iowa football roster, Kueter wrestled in the 285-pound weight class last year.
Kueter finished with a 3-1 record, including a 2-1 record against ranked opponents during his first season in Iowa City. Kueter’s lone defeat came against No. 1 Greg Kervliet of Penn State .
Kueter topped then-No. 29 Bennet Tabor of Minnesota and then-No. 11 Konner Doucet of Oklahoma State by decisions. Kueter pinned Northwestern’s Jack Jensen in 45 seconds.
A product of Iowa City High, Kueter was a four-time undefeated state champion, posting a 111-0 high school mark with 74 career pins and 105 career bonus-point wins. Kueter was the seventh in the history of Iowa high school wrestling to accomplish that feat.
Kueter was the 2023 Iowa Class 3A Dan Gable Mr. Wrestler of the Year and the 2023 Bob Steenlage Iowa High School Wrestler of the Year. He was the firth Iowa high-schooler to win a Junior world wrestling title and the fourth from Iowa City High to do so.
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