For each of the past two seasons, Ohio State has sent a full squad of 10 men to the NCAA Wrestling Championships. The odds of doing so for the third year in a row are a bit longer than they were in years past, with just seven of 10 Buckeyes projected to earn automatic qualifications according to their seeding.

Based on the seeding and number of automatic qualifications in each class, Ohio State would not earn automatic bids for its wrestlers at 125, 133, or 157.

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“We’re going to need a few bracket busters,” head coach Tom Ryan said Thursday before his team took the bus to John Glenn International en route to Piscataway, N.J. “Those are the three weights, if you look at Ohio State’s wrestling lineup, how do you get ’25, ’33, and ’57 on to the national championships?” 

At both 125 and 157, the postseason spot in the lineup appeared to be up for grabs late in the season as starters Malik Heinselman and Elijah Cleary struggled against the best the Big Ten had to offer. Ultimately both wrestlers made enough progress in practice and in late-season tournaments to secure their shot to wrestle in the two biggest meets of the year.

“I really feel good about where Malik is,” Ryan said Thursday. “Malik has had a season where you look back at some of the losses he’s had, most of those were not being able to effectively finish a hold. He had some losses where his opponent never took a shot on him.”

Ryan said the true sophomore had focused intently the past four to six weeks on taking timely shots and getting the finish. He showed a great deal of improvement at Penn State in the team’s dual of the season, upending Brandon Meredith in a 5-3 decision.

Elijah Cleary is much the same story at 157 as Heinselman. He lost most of his dual meet matches this season but was frequently in matches late and simply couldn’t find a shot he wanted to take.

“We need more risk out of him. He needs to take more attempts,” Ryan said. “He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s got good skill, but he’s too careful.”

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Ryan said the competition for the starting spot with Quinn Kinner was good for Cleary’s development. An 11 seed like Heinselman, Ryan thinks the 157-pounder has a winnable first-round match.

The Buckeye with the toughest draw of the weekend is 133-pound true freshman Jordan Decatur. Facing Iowa whirlwind Austin DeSanto in the opening round of the tournament is just about as tall a task as you could imagine, particularly when you remember that DeSanto teched Decatur in Iowa City six weeks ago.

“This weight class in the Big Ten is ridiculous,” Ryan said of the 133-pound bracket. “There’s no easy place in that bracket, I don’t care where you are.”

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Ryan called Decatur “a super athlete” and “a great wrestler,” and praised him for the strides he made over the past two months in managing his weight and conditioning. He also said that he expected the tournament format to favor Decatur in terms of making weight.

“If you remember, J Jaggers struggled in the one-hour weigh-in,” Ryan said, referring to the Buckeye assistant head coach and two-time NCAA champion. “But in a tournament, he’s a freak.”

Decatur and a couple of his teammates will need to channel some of that Jaggers tournament magic when the action gets underway Saturday morning inside the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Andy Vance is a Columbus-based journalist who covers the Ohio State University wrestling program for Eleven Warriors, the largest independent sports site on the internet for Ohio State news, analysis, and community. He is co-host of the site’s Eleven Dubcast podcast. Follow him on Twitter @AndyVance.