The Oswego State wrestling team is off to an 0-1 start this season, but there is plenty of optimism floating around the locker room that the 2016-2017 season will be a successful one.

Many of the players, and especially the coaching staff, are very excited about freshman recruit Jordan Bushey.

Bushey is from Gouverneur, New York, and is wrestling in the 184-pound weight class. The freshman has not yet wrestled for the Lakers in the regular season, but did wrestle for them in the preseason tournament at Ithaca College.

The recruitment process for Bushey was a long one, but the ultimate reason he chose to attend Oswego State was the pre-existing familiarity Oswego State offered him.

“I had a bunch of friends that already wrestled here, so I thought that it would be the best overall fit for me,” Bushey said. “I had a few other schools like Edinboro [University] that I went to visit, but I just felt like those were too big for me right now.”

The transition period for any student athlete can be difficult, especially in wrestling, where athletes really become bigger, stronger and faster during college.

Bushey has already had to deal with different aspects of the college rules for wrestling.

“Definitely the three-minute first periods, that’s a huge adjustment and I figured that out in the first round in Ithaca,” Bushey said. “After that it was all about calming down in the first period and just figuring it out from there.”

Bushey has high expectations for himself and part of that is because during high school he won the New York high school championship in his weight class.

“My goal is to win a national title this year,” Bushey said. “Just take it one step at a time and hope that I can reach that goal before I have to graduate.”

Although Bushey is full of confidence, he knows that to reach his goal, he has to work to do in order to compete at the highest level.

“I really want to improve on my stamina and strength, because I took a year off from a knee injury and I’m just coming back from that,” Bushey said.

Head coach Mike Howard has had his eye on Bushey since he was wrestling for a New York State high school championship. Howard made it clear that Bushey was a highly recruited prospect and the Lakers are lucky to have him.

“A lot of people know about Bushey since he was runner-up in the high school national championship in Virginia Beach,” Howard said. “We didn’t just find him under a rock, there was a lot of colleges around New York state that were interested in him.”

Howard has acknowledged that the wrestlers from the previous seasons were a major influence in bringing Bushey to Oswego State.

Howard said he is excited to see what Bushey will bring to the mat for the Lakers in years to come.

“He’s an explosive wrestler and he’s extremely athletic,” Howard said. “He’s a competitor, you watch him compete and he’s knocking off people and when he takes the mat the mat is his and competes for every position.”

The Lakers will look to get their first win of the season on Nov. 20 as they hit the road to face Cornell University.