Back On the Mat

Georgia Southern wrestling program reaching new heights

If you’ve ever heard the rock music coming from the auxiliary gymnasium of Georgia Southern’s Recreation Activity Center (RAC) each afternoon after 5 p.m. and wondered what was going on in there, the answer is simple.

The wrestlers are back, and hard at work.

Since its resurrection in 2008, the Campus Recreation & Intramurals (CRI) department, along with head coach William Hurst, has made sure the program is here to stay.

Heading into their fourth year of competition under Hurst, the Eagles, who compete as a club team in the Southeastern Conference of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA), have already produced a national champion, an Academic All-American and two players who have earned National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) scholarships.

It took only two years under Hurst for Georgia Southern to finish fifth nationally in the NCWA Division II rankings and 16th overall in the field of 79 Division-I and Division-II teams.

Brooks Pendleton, then a sophomore, dominated the 235-pound weight class at the 2009 national championship meet in Hampton, Va., taking the individual national title while allowing only one point against him, a locked-hands penalty in the first match of the tournament. Pendleton entered the tournament field unseeded and defeated No. 4 seed Brian Milford of Texas A&M for the 235-pound-classification national championship.

Pendleton wrestled two seasons at Georgia Southern, losing only once as he helped rebuild the program, but his career came to an end when he suffered a broken neck.

He has since undergone a full recovery, and is close to graduating.

If he never steps on the mat again, it’s okay,” Hurst said about Pendleton. “He’s got a gigantic diamond national championship ring – they don’t give out toys – and he has beaten some of the best wrestlers in the country at every level.”

Shaun Scruggs, a junior who wrestles in the 184-pound class, was named an NCWA Academic All-American during the 2011 preseason. He also qualified for nationals in each of his first two seasons.

Scruggs had his heart set on attending Georgia Southern before he even knew there was a wrestling program. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Bill, a cello player who came to Georgia Southern on a full musical scholarship.

“The more I looked into Georgia Southern,” Scruggs said, “I found out that there were two guys who had already been to the wrestling nationals, so I met with Coach Hurst. I was already going to come to Georgia Southern – I loved the school, I loved the campus, I loved the RAC – and then to find out there was already a wrestling team that had a lot of success in such a short time, it was remarkable news for me.”

Scruggs had never dreamed of becoming a college athlete, even after he earned the highest grade point average (3.91) on the Peachtree Ridge High School wrestling team his senior year in 2009.

“I’m a junior in college and I’m still speechless about it,” he said. “I never thought for a second in my entire life I’d be able to say I was a college athlete. Now I’m a team captain and an Academic All-American and I’m speechless. My brain is still trying to catch up with my body.”

Hurst came to Georgia Southern in 2008 with two goals; earn his Master of Science in kinesiology and start a competitive wrestling team. Now in year four of his coaching career, he has already surpassed his wildest expectations for his wrestlers.

“We’ve had one national champion who got a big diamond ring, and we’ve had one Academic All-American,” Hurst said. “I really couldn’t tell you which one to be more proud of. They’re both huge accomplishments. When you fill out an application, that’s the first thing you put on there – show them the ring or show them the plaque.”

—Matt Yogus