1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska Attracting National Championship Talents: July 2nd 12:00pm

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

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It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the ticketfm.com. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, brought you by Canopy Street Market. Boom. In your 93-7, The Ticket, The Ticketfm.com, you can't be a part of this hour of radio. by texting the Sart of Hammer text line

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Let him know you're a ticket fan and fanatic. Let him know so that he can hook you up. And it is exceptional. It is exceptional, damn it. So whatever your need, if you need deli meat, you need fresh cut steak, you need chicken, poultry, sausage links, hot dogs, buns, you know, beverages, whatever you need, canopy street market has.

So hit them up. Am I excited today? Yes. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. Because you asked for it. This is how I, when the listeners ask for a thing

and you're able to deliver on that thing, it's pretty cool. And if you had said that this, that our guest today would, would be on the ticket for any reason. Three years ago, two years ago. You have bumped your head, sir. Ma'am, we're in Lincoln, Nebraska.

That's not really going to happen. But at 1230-ish-ish-ish-ish, we will be joined on one-on-one by a national champion. He won the national championship in his freshman year. Freshman year in a one-lost season as a freshman. finished third last year. I got to watch him up close at Nationals. And a lot of his characteristics are on full display. To tell you that in a room that featured, again,

this Nebraska team, the Penn State crew, you know, the ones and twos, Iowa's in the building, Penn State and all of their fans since you're in Philadelphia for the Nationals, Iowa and it's it's nation of wrestling fans that show up, Oklahoma State, and their folks. But amongst them, to fairly say going into the tournament, the most hype centered around Gabe Stevens, but not far behind at all. And there are people that have presence, presence, Bob. That when you see them and how they go,

about their business, their ability to focus amongst chaos, the most impressive thing that I saw, the wrestling speaks for itself. But when you handle the chaos that comes from being a known name, a known face, and a known value, your ability to stay focused in that and train and locked in stands out. And so I was in the back quarter, and I've told the story. And following the Huskers, so when the Huskers, they had a holding area in the corridor with tents and such, their curtains. And the players, the wrestlers would rest. They would recover, eat snacks, get treatment, otherwise.

But in that corridor, to walk from the main entrance to where the wrestlers would make their entrance onto the mat, it was shared space. and I outside of the media room it was a I had kind of built a home so I could see who was coming and going kind of get a read on who they were and what was going on with them how they looked you get immediate response to seeing them as they come off the mat and you watch you watch like I watched gable Stevenson I watched him warm up cool down the conversations that happen between coaches and wrestlers, the conversations that have between wrestlers and wrestlers. And it's not as much space as you would think, Bach, and it's pretty interesting to imagine that the guy that you're wrestling for your dream is in the shared space with you.

He's in the shared space with you. Like, you have to see the guy that you're about to go toe to toe with. And so their interaction is always interesting. was always interesting, but his name is AJ Ferrari. And he will join us at 1230. Greatly appreciate it. And with our coverage of Husker wrestling and being consistent in how we plan on going forward. And again, you get to, you guys get to see and hear Ridge Lovett, the national champion, every Tuesday.

And you get to meet. He had a couple of the freshmen on yesterday. you could meet them and hang out, get some behind the scenes on what was happening, right? And it was interesting to hear Ridge as the elder statesman. But I've talked to Ridge about A.J. Ferrari. And I've also talked to some folks in WWE about A.J. Ferrari. And then you talk to some folks in the UFC about A.J. Ferrari.

And this young man is unique special. He's one of one. no there's no other way to say it there's not 51 and two i believe career in collegiate wrestling what what uh two takedowns from being undefeated and a two-time national champion pretty exceptional work um over across this thing and yeah he's bounced around he's he's had some friction. Friction is the word that I like to use about lessons that we learned in life long away and then being measured by how you deal with that friction. A lot of people succumb to the friction. The friction takes you, grabs you and takes you backwards, or lowers you, drags you down. But masters of a thing take the friction and elevate

and use it for leverage, that I'm going to get better because of this thing I just learned. And not everybody does that. And when we're talking about college athletes, we forget. We forget these are college athletes. And things that happen with you, you know, in your 18, 19 years really aren't the measure of who you are in full,

how you respond to it and what you try to achieve from it. So he is fully a young man that has wrapped himself, and dove into his faith. He, I think, in his evolution, from being the individual star that he is, to aspiring to being a part of something bigger than himself, which is pretty remarkable when you're a unique talent like that. Wrestling is a one-off sport. So if you can commit to a team concept and team building, and if you're a Husker fan

and you're looking forward to next season. First of all, I hope that you have gone online and gotten your Husker wrestling season passes. If you have not, today's a really good day to do that. Just going to let you know, get your Husker season passes. Seven returning all Americans. Seven, including a national champion and a national runner-up. And then, oh, by the way,

let's add to it in a in a weight class of need a superstar a generational superstar and the fact that he has committed to moving himself up for the greater good of the team and his his own being great the challenge of moving up he's going to move up from 197 to heavyweight and that process amongst a myriad of things that are impressive about the young man is willing to do that and then to choose because most programs he would have gone into he would be the national champion

and the focus he understands that in that weight room in that in that wrestling room that the Huskers have depth they have ready-made improvement friction for AJ Farrar. Because there are some dudes in that room that will go toe-to-toe with him and make him better. Terval's in the room.

You already got a national champion. Turval knows what's required to have this sort of success. To have a room. I mean, Mark Manning has put together a room of coaches. Great leadership across the board. I mean, James Green, listen, they've got guys up and down. And then the fact that AJ now has people to wrestle against, who were also national qualifiers, mind you,

who might not make the starting lineup. So that practice, that practice room is going to be fierce. And the off-season will be fierce. I was told that he does not have an off switch. And I look forward to the fact that we get introduced to him in full, in person, today, 1230, here are the ticket. Bach, what do you, what do you, has there ever been a transfer? Jordy Ball is

the recent example of a national champion who had eligibility who then chose Nebraska to finish their career and to achieve all the other things that they want to accomplish. Can you think of another

that is of that level? I'm not sure that I can't. No, I can't think and not at the top of my head. And like you said, the only one you can kind of think of is Jordy Ball and that's again, shout out to Nebraska. athletic department for or you know whatever the collectives whatever is you whatever we're using it and

Ferrari by the way said you know that's not the primary reason but I do want I just want to say to grab to get the level of Jordy ball and AJ Ferrari is incredible for this you know the sporting department you know the sports over at the Nebraska that aren't football as much as we say it's a football school to be able to add to this um you know and I can think I mean just you can think about the corn dogs as we call them the Georgia bulldogs that won national championships came over to Nebraska, but it's not anybody, you know, it's not an individual, you know, they weren't like the star players of that team. You know, Ball and Ferrari are the only ones that I can really think of. And I can't wait to see, I mean, because he's just got so much potential,

as you were saying, as a human being to do what, you know, whatever is next after wrestling, and then so much potential in wrestling this year to help Nebraska, who, for the years and years, like people take for granted. Mark Manning's had this program at a very high level top five program for 20 years, whatever it is. Well, they had their highest finish last year. And now they've got this loaded roster. This is the best that Mark Manning's wrestling program has been in the best shape it's in. So, I mean, it is an exciting time to be a Husker wrestling fan.

Yeah, I don't know. I know that there are a couple of football transfers that transferred in from Alabama, Georgia. Yeah. Right? But they weren't the ones. Right. I think to make it, to compare it, honestly, you would have to say that not unless Jalen hurts. Right.

Yeah. Transfer it is. Right. That maybe you would consider that. Maybe if you had gotten Joe Burrow. Don't bring that up again. Right. Right.

And Barney, you're, you're absolutely right that we're not real sure that they're done. But I love the idea. I love the idea that they're not done. So much so that other talented wrestlers are also considering Nebraska and being a part of Go Big Red wrestling. You can talk about the Bo Bassett. You can talk about his brother Milton. You can talk about there are wrestlers around the country.

And then there are wrestlers in other programs who have their eyes toward Nebraska. And here's what we were talking about. earlier in the week, that what enthuses me and gives me hope is that you have so many of these folks who are making these considerations and it's just not for money. That they're trying to, they're making these decisions because Lincoln, the University of Nebraska, and these athletic programs are good for them. They're good for them and going to help them achieve the things that they're dreaming about hoping for that, listen, getting, you know, Dylan didn't play in other programs, but he was,

he was committed to Ohio State and Georgia before Nebraska. And I think the importance of being able to say and remind people that in the recruiting process, how you treat these recruits, is vital. Because in the transfer portal world, if something goes left, where they're at, they immediately will go to, and it won't necessarily be for money. It will be where am I going to get fed the thing that the nutrition that I need to be the best version of me. The people who are coming for money, who are looking for money in their transfer portal decisions, those are obvious.

But there's value in winning. There's value in competing. There's value in friction and learning how to deal with this stuff. and to have somebody choose, to choose it, and to have Nebraska be the place. Look, we know that Penn State is the North Star. We know that Penn State is the problem at the top of this thing. And everybody, it is the standard how you meet through it.

But what happened in Philadelphia, and I can't tell you, Bach, the number of people that I talk to in Philadelphia, whether it be at our hotel and restaurants in the building. I was rep in Nebraska colors. And the number of people who stopped and said, man, it is really impressive what Nebraska is doing. Because in day one, it was, oh, they took a loss and then got on a roll. They got on a roll.

And then that's segment one and session one and session two. Nebraska's on a roll. and session day two, session one, Nebraska's on a roll. And everybody's looking, and then there's a moment where you look at the board, and they've got the team standings. And oh, my goodness, gracious, who's it number one? That's not Penn State. You could have just handwritten in Sharpie Penn State in the one spot

and then let everybody else fall in line, except Nebraska shook the foundation of collegiate wrestling. at the highest level on the biggest stake. And you, we can't talk about Nebraska athletics like that since 97, where it shook the sport at its highest level on its biggest stage to its core and not having a national champion and then getting a national champion and then another and almost a third. And then, oh, by the way, that's without talking about all of the All-Americans

and the fact that, you know what, they were returning All-Americans. So the bright lights won't be so bright. The stage won't be so big. And as Mark Manning in this wrestling program will tell you, the ability to mentally not make a thing bigger than it is, everybody paid attention. The Husker wrestler. paid attention. But you could,

Bach, you could see them looking at each other at times in this thing, like, this is happening. This is happening, bro. This is happening. And to think that you had, there was disappointment when they didn't win the title. Caleb Smith will tell you,

he was disappointed in his finish because he felt like he had put in the work and was talented enough to stay at the top of the podium. You know, you could say it. Lenny Penton. not satisfied. You had a freshman wrestle at 197

who stunned the entire country by getting on the podium and being an All-American, still not satisfied. Brock Hardy was a bad meal from being a national champion, a bad meal the morning of the championships and still put on a shell

and put up one heck of a fight. But he wasn't at 100%. And none of them are. That's true. But to have three finalists and two of them get a win and not really looking at Penn State the same way anymore. Because late in the dance, they looked at Penn State, and they had to look down in the standings to find it.

And that is so badass that I can't. It was cool to watch. It was cool. Yeah, from the text line, it says culture nowadays is more important than ever. Nebraska wrestling has just that. They wrestle for each other. They wrestle for this state.

You can't say that about other schools. It is a full statement in full. Like, I would think that in watching, and being at the top level of it and watching Penn State, right? And that's the standard. Right? That's the standard in results. That's the standard in,

fan representation and support because they traveled. They traveled to the Big Ten tournament. They traveled to Philadelphia. Again, it wasn't far going from Happy Valley to Philadelphia. But still, the same said when the tournament was here, when the wrestling tournament was here in Lincoln, Penn State showed up. Iowa showed up.

Oklahoma State showed up to watch it happen. In real time, Bach was, for all of the sporting events that I'd been to, I was more impressed by Nebraska wrestling over the course of those tournament days, and that's including the Big Ten tournament. Because the Big Ten tournament, I'm not sure people expected Nebraska

to finish second to Penn State at the Big Ten tournament. I mean, Texan, you can tell me if I'm wrong, but it was not the vibe I was getting. I wasn't getting, we're kind of, We're coming to the Big Ten tournament to finish, to compete with Penn State. And I can tell you that Iowa and its fans, Michigan, Ohio State, they all kind of felt like, hmm, but they were all impressed.

The standard has changed. And what the addition, one, the recruitment, re-recruitment of A.J. Ferrari says is that they were so classy and standardized in what their approach was in recruiting him. that when he became available again, he chose Nebraska. And the reasons why he chose Nebraska, I will certainly ask him why. I want to know why A.J. Ferroari, why Nebraska, what's next? Because, and I'll say it in advance. I'm putting the disclaimer out there once again,

that there's zero chance I can get to everything I want to ask this young man. in 30 minutes or 22 minutes to talk time or whatever it is. I'll do my best. I'll get to as much. You can text in if you have something you want me to ask. I'm asking you to be considerate. I'll try to get to some. Don't be jerks on the text line.

That's not what we're doing. But I'm excited because this was his decision to come on the ticket. This was not a, hey, I'm not casting bait out there to, to get this young man and his people, his staff of people, chose to be on the ticket. And I'm honored by it. And I'm glad that we get the opportunity to sit down and talk to him and meet him. So we will go to break here when we come back.

H.A. Forer, Nebraska Wrestling, national champion, will join us on one-on-one. Download our app by searching 93.7, the ticket in your app store. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 93-7 the ticket in the The ticketfm.com.