SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The NCAA announced the second coaches ranking for the 2021 Division I Wrestling Championships on Thursday, which includes 21 Southern Conference wrestlers.
 
App State’s Anthony Brito (141), The Citadel’s Dazjon Casto (165) and VMI’s Zach Brown (184) join the previous 18 wrestlers who were ranked in the first coaches ranking released on Feb. 11 ahead of the 2021 SoCon Wrestling Championship, which is set for Sunday, Feb. 28, at Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, North Carolina. The first round of matches will begin at 10 a.m., with finals scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Awards will follow at the conclusion of the final match. 
 
The coaches rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each conference. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class. For the second ranking, wrestlers must have three Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one within the last 30 days. For the final coaches ranking that will be utilized during the at-large selection and seeding process, wrestlers will need a minimum of four Division I matches in the weight class.
 
The coaches ranking is one of several criteria that will be evaluated by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee during the at-large selection and seeding along with head-to-head competition, quality wins, conference tournament placement, results versus common opponents and win percentage.
 
A full description of the entire selection process for the 2021 Division I Wrestling Championships is available at ncaa.org.
 
For more information on the 2021 SoCon Wrestling Championship, click here.
 
The SoCon’s 21 ranked individuals are:
 
125 pounds (1 NCAA allocation) (Current/Previous Ranking)
Codi Russell, App State (18/17)
Fabian Gutierrez, Chattanooga (21/21)
 
133 pounds (1 NCAA allocation)
None

141 pounds (1 NCAA allocation)
Franco Valdes, Chattanooga (31/33)
Anthony Brito, App State (32/NR)
 
149 pounds (2 NCAA allocations)
Joshua Heil, Campbell (11/13)
Jonathan Millner, App State (14/14)


157 pounds (1 NCAA allocation)
Benjamin Barton, Campbell (25/24)
Cody Bond, App State (31/30)
 
165 pounds (1 NCAA allocation)
William Formato, App State (16/16) 
Rodrick Mosley, Gardner-Webb (21/23)
Andrew Nicholson, Chattanooga (27/28)
Dazjon Casto, The Citadel (33/NR)

174 pounds (1 NCAA allocation)
Austin Murphy, Campbell (12/14)
Thomas Flitz, Appalachian State (13/13)

184 pounds (2 NCAA allocations)
Caleb Hopkins, Campbell (22/23)
Matthew Waddell, Chattanooga (26/25)
Jha’Quan Anderson, Gardner-Webb (32/NR)
Zach Brown, VMI (33/NR)
 
197 pounds (1 NCAA allocation)
Chris Kober, Campbell (28/27)
Tyler Mousaw, VMI (33/33)
 
Heavyweight (2 NCAA allocations)
Michael McAleavey, The Citadel (30/31)