ISU wrestling coach Bobby Douglas sent mixed messages about his team’s upcoming season Tuesday.

After the Cyclones had a disappointing season 8-10 dual record in 2002—03, Douglas said he hopes to get the ISU program back on track this season with the help of a strong freshman class.

“This year is a little different, we’re going to be starting some very talented young people,” Douglas said. “The Paulsons [Travis and Trent] and [Kurt] Backes are three freshman we’re going to have to count on heavily. I think our season will go according to where they go,” Douglas said. “They are exceptionally talented freshmen, but a freshman is still a freshman.”

Senior and two-time All-American Zach Roberson said the youth of the team is not necessarily a detriment to this year’s success.

“Hopefully, all of the young guys will come out fired up and ready to wrestle,” he said. “We’ve been working out and getting in shape and if you see these guys wrestle you know [they don’t wrestle] like freshmen.

“They wrestle like they’re upperclassmen and they have a lot of drive behind them. I think they’re going to be good.”

Though Douglas has high hopes riding on his freshman class, there will also be pressure on some older wrestlers to improve.

“We are going to depend on our veterans, [Nick] Passolano, [Nate] Gallick, and [Grant] Nakamura,” Douglas said.

Douglas said last season’s record didn’t reflect a lack of effort put forth by the team — instead, it was the result of a lack of experience and talent.

“Last year’s team gave us everything they had, they just didn’t have that much,” Douglas said. “We did as well as we could do with the talent that we had.”

Douglas said that last year’s season was a building season, and uncharacteristic of Iowa State’s program to produce such poor results.

“It was very disappointing and disheartening for our fans,” Douglas said.

When asked about his thoughts on this season’s Big 12 schedule, Douglas frowned.

“I hate to talk about the Big 12 schedule — it’s a nightmare,” Douglas said. “Our situation with wrestling is the same they have with basketball and football — It’s a tough, tough schedule.”

Though the Cyclones are ranked sixth in the nation in preseason polls, Douglas said he believes his team will struggle at first, but come on strong midway through the season.

“I’m optimistic that this team is going to come around because of its work ethic,” Douglas said. “By the time we get to the conference and national tournament, we’ll be a top-10 team.”

While Douglas is hoping for his team to improve physically, he doesn’t want that to come at the expense of the wrestlers’ health. Douglas said he is stressing his team stay healthy so it doesn’t have to battle the same injuries that plagued the team last season.

Roberson said the Cyclones are not yet where they want to be, but they will continue to work and could be NCAA contenders as the season continues.

“Right now I think we have a [long way] to go,” he said. “By the end of the season, I could see us winning [the national championship]. There’s enough talent [on the team] that we could win it.”

— Daily staff writer Mike Dean contributed to this story.