But it has little to do with a line or two in the record books. Burroughs wasted no time transitioning from folkstyle wrestling (college) to freestyle wrestling. Many assumed Jordan Burroughs’ best days were behind him, Dake was the uncrowned rep at 74. He has company now, but Burroughs still matters on the U.S. wrestling scene – especially here less than 100 miles from where he won a New Jersey state title for Winslow Township. “You’re capable of doing amazing things,” Burroughs said. Manning, his coach, praises Burroughs for his “grab your lunch pail and go to work” mentality. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. He then lost 11-1 by tech fall to Uzbekistan’s Bekzod Abdurakhmonov, heading home without a medal. Burroughs also won bronze medals at the World Championships in 2014, 2018 and 2019. Burroughs went 6-0 with three wins by tech fall, including a 10-0 win in the final to earn his third World Championship gold medal. “You have to wrestle to be great. As an upperclassman, Burroughs put together the only two undefeated seasons ever by a Husker. And I just started working my butt off, and all the sudden I started winning. He won a hard-fought 4-4 match by criteria over Italy’s Frank Chamizo in the bronze medal match. Yianni knew that guy was a quality wrestler and was going to come at him hard, but Yianni didn’t stop shooting. Burroughs went on to win his first two matches despite the injury, but he suffered a 9-2 loss to Tsargush of Russia in the semifinal round. He chose his wife. In fact, naming the greatest Husker wrestler ever was similar to naming the greatest basketball player ever for the Chicago Bulls. Burroughs laughs sheepishly when reminded of posts like that. Kyle Snyder, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion just a year out of college, is the new face of the sport in the U.S. win last year over four-time World Champion Frank Chamizo in the 2018 Beat the Streets main event, JoJo Aragona hit a double leg in a match against five-time New York State champion Adam Busiello that drove both wrestlers off the mat, after the other athletes had whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Is it John Smith who won 2 Olympics and 4 World titles all in a row to make 6 titles in all. He also won the World Cup Championship that year. We have reached the conclusion of our list of the best Huskers to ever step on the mat, and quite honestly, the top spot was the easiest to pin down considering one of the greatest American wrestlers ever went through Lincoln. Jordan Burroughs put together a Husker career that was head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. But he was an Olympic champion at 24, the world and all of its temptations at his feet. After Diakomihalis’ win, spectators started hollering encouragement to Burroughs, who was set to face MMA star Ben Askren in the main event of the 13-match card. But he wasn’t always true to what he preached. “We get to where we are because of the people around us. At the NCAA tournament, Burroughs won his first three matches before falling in the semifinal round to Iowa’s Brent Metcalf, the eventual national champion (video below). He then won his second match 8-2 before a four-overtime 6-1 loss. All rights reserved (About Us). When they met in the finals of the World Team Trials, Dake took match one on criteria. For five years now, ever since he won his first world title, Burroughs has had a target on his back, one that’s gotten bigger with each victory. I know he loves the sport, but without Jordan does Dake push that hard? He then beat former NCAA champ Andrew Howe in a best-of-three at the US World Team Trials to make the World Team. In 2019, Burroughs won yet another Pan Am gold medal before beating Martinez at the World Team Trials, qualifying for his seventh US World Team. He watched Cornell sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis, a two-time NCAA champion and part of the future of U.S. wrestling, dispatch India’s Bajrang Punia, the No. “Now, my perspective has shifted.”. He wants to be an example for all those people who don’t have one, someone to be counted on. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Burroughs beat Goudarzi 1-0, 1-0 to win Olympic gold. In case you missed it, here’s the list so far. I think that was always a conflict,” said Burroughs’ wife, Lauren. Bill Evans can be reached at [email protected] or by leaving a note in the comments below. At the World Championships, Burroughs dropped a match 6-5 in the quarterfinal round but bounced back with two wins to earn another bronze medal. “But also, I think that you have to have a constant desire to do more,” he added. At the World Championships, Burroughs again fell short of the gold medal, going 4-1 to win the bronze medal. “The onus was on me to either change and man up to the responsibility or continue living the lifestyle that I had at the time and essentially go nowhere,” Burroughs said. Here’s Burroughs winning his first World Championship. The crowd was there for him, to see the legend, to watch him shoot his patented double legs. But it’s the way he thinks that makes Burroughs extraordinary, Manning said. At the 2009 Big 12 Championships, Burroughs again went 2-0 to win conference gold, beating Chandler 6-4 in the final. His personality and friendly back-and-forth on Twitter with Askren helped draw attention to the event and a brought a packed house to the theater. And I’m happy. As a Husker, Burroughs finished with a 128-20 career record, winning two NCAA titles and three conference titles while earning All-American honors three times. Burroughs again went up a weight class to 165 pounds. He revived us from a slump, and it’s our responsibility to not let it fade away.”. With there only being six Olympic weight classes compared to the 10 during non-Olympic years, that means that Burroughs was setting up for another round in his ongoing rivalry with Kyle Dake, who has won two world championships since moving up to 79kg (not an Olympic weight class). Though they were only casually dating at the time — “We were just kids back then,” Lauren said — she went to London. Burroughs couldn’t even walk for two weeks. Ask any elite athlete, and he or she will tell you it’s much easier to chase after someone than to hold opponents off. Burroughs is sixth on the all-time win list at Nebraska and holds the sixth-best win percentage (.865). Burroughs is 30 now. He went 5-0 to win the 165-pound weight class with all five wins coming with bonus points. Again, Burroughs led the team in tech falls (5) and major decisions (15). He carried the banner for the country in a down time for the sport. 1 Jordan Burroughs, Ultimate Husker Linebacker Bracket: The Elite Eight. “But I also know what they’re thinking,” Burroughs said. Though his parents stressed the importance of hard work and being true to his word, dreaming beyond their horizons wasn’t something a lot of people did in his hometown of Sicklerville, N.J. No one had shown them how. In fact, he’s been the face of U.S.A. Wrestling for nearly a decade now, building a resume as one of the best to ever step foot on a wrestling mat. U.S.A. Olympic wrestler Jordan Burroughs, a 2012 gold medal winner, and his coach, Mark Manning, walk us through his training session and workout. Highest Ceiling Huskers: No. Burroughs dominated Askren, 11-0, and it was clear who the wrestler was who had been chasing the highest medals in the sport the last decade and who had used his wrestling skills – Askren was a two-time NCAA champ – in another arena. “I was inspired, bro,” said Burroughs of Diakomihalis’ victory. Early in the season, Burroughs put the whole weight class on notice when he beat the defending NCAA champion Jordan Leen of Cornell at the Midlands Final. Rutgers NCAA champ Nick Suriano brought the crowd to its feet with a 3-1 win over world medalist Joe Colon. 1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65 kg, in the penultimate match of Monday’s electric Beat the Streets Event. He got surgery the next day to insert a metal plate with five screws and his team kept things quiet about the injury leading up until the World Championships. They know your tendencies, they know your strengths and weaknesses. There’s no staying the same,’” Burroughs said. It’s arguable Kyle Snyder, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion just a year out of college, is the new face of the sport in the U.S. Snyder dominated his match midway through the card Monday with his technical superiority victory over Nishan Randhawa. That’s in the past. In the final, Burroughs defeated Caldwell 11-3. Against the best wrestlers from every corner of the world, Burroughs has yet to lose. Despite his family and growing fame — he has his own product line with Asics as well as deals with Ralph Lauren and Chobani, and he was given the honor of introducing first lady Michelle Obama during the 100 Days Out celebration — he can be found in the Nebraska wrestling room each morning, drilling with Manning. “He was a kid in London in a lot of ways.”. USA TODAY Sports counts down to the Rio Olympics with 10 to Watch, profiles of the biggest stars of the Games. I don’t. “Once you know Jordan Burroughs, he’s not cocky at all. At the NCAA tournament, Burroughs went 5-0 to win Nebraska’s 10th individual national title. It Seems We Have Forgotten A Sport - Flakes. But he’s not satisfied and doesn’t plan to ever be. In what is the first tournament Burroughs has been in that he didn’t earn any hardware, the 2016 Olympics were the low point of his career. These 2 guys have to be the best American wrestlers of all time. Was COVID-19 the only thing that could possibly stop Ohio State from making a march towards the College Football Playoffs in 2020?