During NC State’s 20-12 dual win over Virginia Tech last Friday night, The College Wrestling Report “X” account (the former Twitter) sent out a tweet that Jakob Camacho scored an upset win over Cooper Flynn at 125 pounds. To which, Wolfpack associate head coach Adam Hall quote tweeted “Don’t call is an upset; call it a comeback.”

The story of the Pack’s starting 125-pounder has been well-known throughout this season.

A two-time ACC Champion (2020 and 2022), Camacho sat out all last season with a knee injury. He was back out on the mat once the season started in November and started the season with a top-10 national ranking.

His win over 2023 NCAA finalist and current #1 Matt Ramos of Purdue (8-5) during the second weekend of the season propelled him to #3 in the national rankings, and the next week he climbed to the top spot in his weight class.

Then came a rough patch.

After a 7-0 start to the season, Camacho and the Pack headed to Nashville for the annual Collegiate Wrestling Duals. He came in with a #1 national ranking but lost all three of his matches in the dual format. Then another loss came in the first dual of 2024 at home against Oklahoma State.

Granted, he did not travel to the Cliff Keen Invite in December, and the holiday break had minimal action for NC State, but Camacho went more than two months without a win. 

That period started with a win over Binghamton’s Carson Wagner on November 17, and his next win wasn’t until taking top honors at the Appalachian State Open on January 27. It was even longer for his first dual win since November, February 9 against Kyle Montaperto of Viginia (21-6 tech fall).

After the Oklahoma State loss, the NC State coaches sat Camacho from outside competition and kept his work in the practice room.

“I’d say the break helped me take a step back and get healthy,” Camacho said. “It allowed me to reflect and focus on the basics, on the process, and the important things in my life. It allowed me to see a big picture and see how blessed I am to have such an amazing team, coaching staff, medical staff, family, and have faith in the grand scheme of things.”

Since his return to the mat, Camacho has three recent dual wins, including victories over #18 Brett Ungar of Cornell (5-1) and #7 Cooper Flynn of Virginia Tech (5-1).

“The last few wins are just a reflection of having faith and being fearless,” Camacho said. “It’s a reminder that with the right attitude, right work ethic, right mentality and health, good things can happen. 

“At the end of the day this is my favorite sport, and it should be fun. So, I try to keep it that way and it’s fun getting better. Part of the fun is the unknown. I don’t know the future, but I know I can live in the moment and do the best I can, make some memories, and have some fun.”

NC State head coach Pat Popolizio knows what he has with a full healthy Camacho in his lineup. He has seen him win a pair of ACC titles during his career and will aim to become the 13th Wolfpack wrestler to claim three conference crowns next weekend at the 2024 ACC Championship.

“I like where Camacho is at,” Popolizio said. “We took a little time to regroup and get our mind shifted back to where we know what he is capable of doing. 

“We saw that the last three weeks. He scored a lot of points against Virginia, which he is more than capable of doing. Then he had a couple of tough, gritty wins against a pair of ranked guys. Momentum is good for Camacho right now, he just needs to keep showing up and being ready to compete.”

The 125-pound weight class has been key to the Pack’s performance at the ACC Championship in recent years, as a NC State wrestler has made the finals in the weight class eight straight years (four titles and four runner-up finishes between Camacho, current teammate and 2023 ACC Champion Jarrett Trombley, and former Pack wrestler Sean Fausz).

Associate Head Coach Adam Hall Gets Head Coaching Gig

After nine seasons with the Wolfpack wrestling program, Adam Hall will be moving on after the NCAA Championships in March. On February 15, Hall was named the next head coach at Utah Valley.

“Adam has been a rock star,” Popolizio said. “When you look across the country at the assistant coaches that put their time in and helped elevate a program, there is no question that he has done that here at NC State. Just the passion, the intensity, the knowledge, he checks all the boxes of a great coach. 

“He is ready, he is experienced, and I think he is going to do some big things for that program. He is going to be missed.”

Hall returns to his Western roots, as he is originally from Idaho, and was a two-time All-American at Boise State.

Hall also becomes the fourth former assistant coach under Popolizio to become a current D1 head coach: Dennis Papadatos (Hofstra), Frank Beasley (George Mason), and Ob Blanc (North Dakota State).

With the announcement coming before the end of the season, Popolizio is already having some conversations to fill his spot on his coaching staff.

“It’s nothing new to us, we’ve had coaches here who have gotten promoted and moved on,” he said. “It will be different (without Hall), but I feel really good with some of the people we are talking to right now. It will be a good opportunity to get some new knowledge and some new experiences.”

Up Next

NC State seeks its sixth straight ACC Championship on Sunday, March 10 in Chapel Hill. NC State has won five straight conference titles, a school record, and the Pack has also not finished lower than second at the ACC Championship since 2015.

“We have to show up, I think that is the biggest thing,” Popolizio said. “If you look at some of dual wins against tougher teams this year, our guys showed up and competed. When we had some of those losses in the middle of the year, we didn’t go out and compete. It’s not that we weren’t wrestling hard, we just didn’t compete. I think that is the biggest thing now that we have been able to do this last month of the season.

“We want to go out and lay it on the line for seven minutes. We have to go out, attack, and score points. When we do that, we put ourselves in a really good position against good teams.”

Since the 2017-18 season, NC State has claimed at least a share of 11 of the possible 13 ACC trophies (six ACC Dual Championships and five ACC Championships). NC State added its most recent trophy this past weekend, completing an undefeated ACC dual season with the win over the Hokies.