As this year’s dual season comes to an end, seven-time Olympic and World champion Jordan Burroughs has a close eye on his former team.

As a die-hard Husker who wears that distinction proudly, Burroughs follows all Husker athletics, but none closer than on the team Nebraska head coach Mark Manning puts out on the mat.

This year’s team features a mix of experienced guys at or near the top of their weight classes as well as young talent that’s burst out of the gate. The Huskers have six ranked wrestlers with five in the Top 10, led by #1 Peyton Robb at 157 pounds, #2 Mikey Labriola at 174 and #3 Liam Cronin at 125.

With Burroughs having left Lincoln in 2021, he’s not as personally familiar with the team as he’s been in the past, but he has spent a significant amount of time rolling around with Robb and Labriola.

“(Labriola) and I have scrapped a significant amount. What I’ve learned from those guys is they’re competitors and they want to win. Husker wrestling is in good hands,” Burroughs said. “I’m excited about the path that these guys are on because although it’s been a little bit of time since I left (for Pennsylvania RTC), these guys were kind of in the thick of their careers when I kind of took off. P-Robb and Mikey Labs, I spent a lot of time with those guys. I got to mix it up with them quite a bit before I left and I know what they’re capable of.”

Burroughs acknowledges that Labriola has been extremely successful at the collegiate level as he’s already a three-time All-American. As a senior, Labriola is also making a late march up the Husker career wins list. Going into this weekend’s final dual against #18 Arizona State, Labriola is 23-0 on the year and holds a 113-26 career record, putting him in a tie for 12th place. He’s a win away from former NCAA finalist TJ Dudley and three wins away from catching former teammate and NCAA finalist Tyler Berger. Two more wins puts Labriola into the Nebraska Top 10.

“Clearly, Mikey has done a phenomenal job – he’s been on the podium quite a bit,” Burroughs said. “I’m hoping that he finally gets that NCAA championship this year.”

Despite that success, Burroughs thinks there’s another level that Labriola needs to reach to sit atop the podium in March, especially with a pair of NCAA champions in the way in Carter Starocci of Penn State and Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech. Labriola is 0-2 against Starocci for his career but defeated Lewis at the CKLV finals this season.

“He’s been close. It’s not like Starocci is out of his wheelhouse. I mean, Starocci just won a one-point match with Nelson Brands. Whether that was a bad match or a blip in his wrestling career, he had a poor performance that evening,” Burroughs said. “I think that it’s possible and (Labriola is) capable of doing something special, but ultimately he has to believe that he can beat a guy like Starocci. He’s gotta know that it’s going to be very difficult to pull it off, but I believe in Mikey. He’s beaten Mekhi Lewis, he’s beaten some of the better guys in the country consistently. He’s been a consistent presence in the quarterfinals and the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, he just hasn’t been able to get over the hump. There’s just been one or two guys better than him in the weight class each year. It’s going to take some work.”

With both Labriola and Robb (22-0 this year), Burroughs points to a maturity level that he sees in them that maybe wasn’t there before. They’ve been in the heat of battle at the NCAAs and have taken on the top guys. Then this summer, Burroughs worked out with them at the Olympic Training Center.

“(Robb) has grown into a man. Up until this point, he’s kind of been a pup,” Burroughs said. “He’s been kind of the young kid that was scrappy and willing to wrestle harder than his competition, so he won a lot of his matches.”

Now ranked #1 in the country, Robb is the hunted rather than the hunter, something that Burroughs knows not everyone is comfortable with.

“Some guys fold under the pressure of being #1. They don’t want to be recognized as #1 because they want to be the underdog and they don’t want to have to consistently deliver. They would rather have no expectations, then they could just let it fly,” Burroughs said. “What I’ve seen from (Robb) is he’s become a dog. He’s like, listen I’m better than you, and even if I’m not you’re still not going to beat me. I’m going to make you work hard in every position, I’m going to club you hard in the head, I’m going to mat return you from the top position. And I’m going to do that for an entire seven minutes and make this match hell for you. I think he outlasts his opponents with sheer willpower and love of the sport and a competitive nature. He’s a scrappy kid and he always has been, but I think now he’s rolling with a different level of confidence where now he feels like he’s the man, not just some kid trying to prove himself.”

As for the rest of the Huskers, Burroughs isn’t all that familiar with them. Nebraska has a trio of redshirt freshmen in the starting lineup that really burst onto the scene after he left the Husker program in #4 Brock Hardy (141 pounds), #10 Silas Allred (197) and #14 Lenny Pinto (184). 

But that doesn’t mean these guys haven’t caught his attention from afar, and nobody has caught his attention more than Pinto, known for his attacking style and big moves.

“He’s been the guy that I’m like, ‘Damn, I like this guy.’ I want to see guys that want to score points and put on a show and they just want to wrestle and do cool stuff, that gets me excited,” Burroughs said of Pinto. “You need a little bit of that dog, and he possesses that. With time, you can develop skills. That stuff will eventually come. A guy that’s just willing to shoot it out, that’s what you want.”

As for Allred, Burroughs said he’s been impressed with his work ethic, and that’s contributed to his success on the mat as he’s compiled a 22-5 record this year, including a pinfall win over then-#9 Zac Braunagel that led to him winning Big Ten Wrestler of the Week. 

“I know Silas for a fact is a hard-working kid and that he loves the sport and he puts the work in,” Burroughs said. “I don’t know Lenny at all, but I hear all great things about him and I love watching him compete. He’s like, ‘If you’re better than me, you’re going to have to prove it.’”

With these young guys in the lineup, Burroughs says it can go one of two ways. They’re either ready for the moment, or they’re not yet.

“When you’re young, there’s a few things happening. Either you’re like ‘I don’t belong here,’ and you have imposter syndrome, or you’re like ‘I’m going to shock the world,’” Burroughs said. “These guys are letting it fly because they’re uninhibited by reality. They haven’t been beat up by the rest of the NCAA yet, at least not much. They still have a level of naivete that they’re operating with. They’re just fun, man. Manning’s hitting on these recruits. Nebraska isn’t a place known for getting these blue chips, but these guys are coming out and competing well early on and they’re competing to become All-Americans. That’s pretty special, and I think it’s a testament to our ability to enhance the abilities of our guys but also to kind of grow and develop talent. That’s cool to watch.”

According to Burroughs, that naivety is something that makes these guys dangerous at NCAAs. If you’re not careful, they can take you out.

“Those are dudes that you do not want to catch at the NCAA tournament, especially if you had a bad weight cut, or you’re not feeling good, or you’re a little nervous, or if you just broke up with your girlfriend,” he said. “Those are guys you don’t want to catch at the NCAA tournament because they will knock you off.”

In fact, Burroughs said his first NCAA tournament was a turning point for him, and it wasn’t just because him and his teammates saw fellow Husker Paul Donahoe do it. He went 1-2 and vowed to never again watch others get celebrated while he sits in the stands. 

“Early, you don’t really know what you can do because you’re just excited for the opportunity to be in the lineup. After your first NCAA tournament, you’re never the same again,” Burroughs said. “I remember leaving the NCAA tournament as a freshman in college being like, ‘I’ll never leave another tournament feeling like this again.’”

And if you look at his career following that NCAA tournament in 2007, Burroughs went from a guy just above .500 to one of the best to ever wrestle in college. Burroughs finished his freshman year with a 16-13 record. The following season, he went 34-6 and finished third at NCAAs. He then won 78 of his next 79 matches while winning two national titles – his only loss came in a match where he tore his knee up, leading to a medical redshirt in 2009.

According to Burroughs, he absolutely hated the feeling of watching guys he knew he was capable of beating being honored as All-Americans. In his opinion, this year’s postseason will go a long way in developing the young guys on this Husker team.

“They need to be there and to be on the big stage and see what it’s like to have eight whistles going all at the same time and to wrestle a guy who’s a returning All-American,” Burroughs said. “Those things only enhance your abilities moving forward to the point where you’re just lights-out and nothing affects you. You just rock and roll no matter what.”