ANOTHER FOUR-TIMER
Brandon's Craig to wrap up unbeaten prep career
The nation’s top sophomore.
The nation’s top junior.
The nation’s top senior?
Those are all labels that have been “pinned” on Brandon (Fla.) High standout David Craig throughout most of his high school career.
But it’s Craig who has been doing most of the pinning as well as fulfilling those lofty expectations year after year.
Through his first three years, the Lehigh recruit posted a 129-0 career record and is a couple of weeks away from ending his storied career as an unbeaten four-time state champion. It would be his third straight title at 171 pounds after winning at 145 as a freshman. Judging from the fact that he needed less than four minutes to pin his four opponents in the state meet as a junior, that would seem to be a foregone conclusion.
Last summer, Craig was an integral part of a Brandon machine that won seven Cadet or Junior National titles at Fargo. He has been both
a double Cadet and Junior National champion during his career.Recently, W.I.N. caught up with Craig for this candid interview.
WIN: How’s your senior year going?
Craig: It’s going really well. I had some tougher courses to take earlier in the year, but I’ve got those pretty much out of the way now, so it’ll be a lot easier from now on.
WIN: How about on the mat?
Craig: Great. I’ve been working hard, as hard as I can to be my best. We’ve got kind of a younger team at Brandon this year, but we’re better and better every day. I think we’ll be ready to go and I think if everything goes right for us, we’ll come out on top (at state) again.
WIN: What was it like, being a part of that group at Fargo last summer that accomplished things no group of wrestlers from a single school had ever accomplished there?
Craig: It was really special. But I think it was a lot more of a surprise to other people than it was to us. We expected to do that well. I’ve been working out with Rocky (Cozart) and Cesar (Grajales) and guys like that since I was four years old. We worked really hard for that and it paid off.
WIN: You signed during the early signing period with Lehigh. How important was that for you, to have that decision out of the way before the season?
Craig: It was really important. I didn’t want to be thinking about it during the season. I’m really happy with my decision.
WIN: Talk about the give-and-take with Lehigh and how you made your decision to sign with them.
Craig: (Lehigh) Coach (Greg) Strobel came down last spring to a camp we were having at Brandon. He recruited Cesar (Grajales), so I had met him before. I talked to him and I really liked his philosophy. It seemed like the way he teaches wrestling fit perfectly with my style, so I really liked that. I took a visit there last September and I spent a lot of time with a lot of the guys like Troy Letters and Cory Cooperman and I really got along well there. It’s a beautiful campus and being in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, that’s a great wrestling area. I’m really looking forward to going there.
WIN: You’ve carried the burden of high expectations most of your career. Going into your sophomore year, all of us were calling you the top sophomore in the nation. Then, during your junior year, we were calling you the top junior. And now, in your senior year, you’re one of the top two or three again. How have you tried to handle that?
Craig: I really don’t think about it. I just try to wrestle my match, whatever the situation is.
WIN: You mentioned that Cesar Grajales was the first four-time state champion from Brandon. You’re on track to win four as well and to be an unbeaten four-time state champion too. How special would it be to finish your high-school career that way?
Craig: I think it would be awesome. A lot of great wrestlers have had the chance and Cesar did it last year. So I would get to join a very special group of Brandon wrestlers. That’s the way I want to end it.
WIN: Over the years at Brandon, you’ve had a chance to work out with guys with a lot of different styles: like Rocky Cozart, who’s a thrower, and Cesar, who has a lot of basic technique. That’s had to be a big help, to have workout partners over the years with all those different styles.
Craig: Yeah, the diversity definitely helps. And Coach (Russ) Cozart tries to bring a lot of diversity; the technique he shows, he covers a really broad span of everything. So all the wrestlers in the Brandon program get a good look at it, anything they might see out there. With all those techniques and the different workout partners, it helps me with my style and it incorporates that technique into their style. It’s just a good blend.
WIN: You’ve been with Coach Cozart since you were 4, so you’ve been with him for 14 years. Can you still learn something new from him every day?
Craig: Oh, yeah — every day. He always brings new stuff to us, and if not, sometimes you just pick up stuff on your own, working out. There’s a lot of freedom in the room to experiment and try things.
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