OWS:  Jeff, right now as a freshman in the Big Ten you’re at 24-4, what are your thoughts on your season thus far?
Jaggers:  I’m pretty good for right now.  I have a couple of big matches coming up as we finish up the big ten schedule.  If I win out I should get the #3 seed at Big Ten’s.  I have a big match coming up with Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan. 

OWS: Speaking of Tannenbaum (4th place finisher at NCAA’s last year), you will wrestle him on February 12, I understand you and he have somewhat of a history going back all the way to youth wrestling?
Jaggers:  Yes, I lost to him in 8th grade and after my freshman year…….

OWS: AT Cadet Nationals?
Jaggers: Yeah, I lost to him 3-2.

OWS: Does that give you extra incentive?
Jaggers:  The importance of the match is more about getting a better seed for Big Tens and nationals.  I’m looking to climb up in the rankings, right now I am ranked 8th.  It would be good not to have the #1 seed in the quarters!

OWS: Yes, I suppose that would be key!  Ok, so far in your career you’ve won four state titles, Senior Nationals, and Junior Nationals.  Is there a match or achievement that stands out as your career highlight?
Jaggers: I think my career highlight…. well obviously the four state titles- but winning h.s. nationals was a huge goal for me.  You know, I always- from when I was like in 7th grade looking at the Asics All-American posters, I always wanted to win Senior Nationals and be the best wrestler in the country. 

OWS:  Did avenging your previous loss to Troy Tirapelle have something to do with that being your career highlight?
Jaggers:  Yeah, it definitely added to the excitement!

OWS: In the finals of Senior Nationals you wrestled Steve Blunk of Streetsboro.  How did you feel about wrestling Blunk for the national title, given that as I understand you guys have trained together in the past?
Jaggers: Yeah, we trained together a lot and even went to tournaments together, so yeah, it was a little weird facing him, but at the same time, I approached the match as if he was just another opponent. 

OWS: I guess at that point it’s all business.
Jaggers: Yeah, exactly.

OWS:  Jeff, I’d like to talk a little about your coaching influences.  Growing up, who would you say had the biggest impact on you as a wrestler?
Jaggers: Well, there’s been many people who helped get me where I am.  I started wrestling at age five at the Chanel Firebirds youth program, where Graham Coghill was coaching. Graham has definitely been influential.  Growing up, I looked up to the guys in the Chanel High School program, like Anthony Ralph, who ended up being one of my high school coaches. Ralph has been a great friend as well as a great coach.  Of course, my dad, he made tremendous sacrifices, whether it was sending me to Fargo, or whatever else, he doesn’t miss anything.

OWS: Last year you suffered a major elbow injury that knocked you out for the entire season, how did you recover and how did that affect you mentally being out for so long?
Jaggers:  I opted not to get surgery, I just let it scar over.  It really worried me, it was the only time in my life I was out of wrestling for that long.  Every day, while I was watching practice, I was thinking about how my competition was getting better and I wasn’t because I couldn’t get on the mat.  But I came back in the spring and wrestled FILA’s and did pretty well out there making the finals, so I knew I could come back alright.

OWS: How is the elbow now?
Jaggers:  Fine, good as new.

OWS: Jeff, it’s safe to say you never saw a cradle opportunity you didn’t want to go for.  I can say that many of the positions you put yourself in going for your cradle scare the hell out of me!  But you always seem to pull it off. Have your coaches in the past tried to modify your style at all? 
Jaggers:  Well, there’s been people who have tried to modify my style, but you know, when I came here, Russ (Hellickson) just said, “don’t change him, he’s winning, don’t fix what ain’t broke.”

OWS:  Have there been other coaches who have tried to make your unique style “fit the mold” of a more conventional style?
Jaggers:  You know, I like winning big and putting people away.  Sometime I take risks that I shouldn’t, trying to put the match away and it may let the guy right back in the match, but I just figure I will get the points back later.  But winning by a point is something I’ve had to get used to somewhat in college! 

OWS: Now, at the Southern Scuffle, you were matched against Gregor Gillespie, who at the time was ranked #3 in the nation and considered the hottest freshman in the country.  Yet you dominated the match.  What was the key to the match for you?
Jaggers: I watched him wrestle a bunch of times, I knew how he hit his shots, what to counter with, and just created scrambles that I was fortunate enough to come out on top of both times. I rode him real hard and got a ride time point at the end.  I was also careful to stay out from bottom because he has been killing people on top. 

OWS: In the off-season, what does your daily training regimen consist of?
Jaggers: Getting as many workout in as I can, but I’m not one of these crazy guys that overtrains, you can burn out easily.  I did a lot of lifting, since I decided to move up a weight class. 

OWS:  When did you decide to move up to 149?
Jaggers:   Probably in the spring, I was weighing about 155.  I cut to 145.5 for a the world team trial, it was a real tough cut because you’re not training as much.  After that I was weighing about 158, and TJ was getting bigger so we decided to move up. The guys are a little bigger and stronger up here but I’m holding my own.

OWS: Would you say you’re a “light 149”.
Jaggers: Oh, I’m definitely a light 149.  But at the same time, while all these other guys are worrying about making weight, I only have to concentrate on wrestling.

OWS: Absolutely.  What is your daily weight at, about 155?
Jaggers: Not even, I usually leave practice right on weight.

OWS:  Now, you lost the first match to Schlatter 1-0.  Do you think the familiarity you guys have had an effect on the match?
Jaggers:  We were on Junior National Teams together, but we never really wrestled a whole lot.  He was focusing on Greco too so he didn’t really practice with us a lot.  I think the low-scoring and hesitation had to do with respect for one another. He probably knew how dangerous I was, and I knew how good his position was, and I didn’t want to force something that wasn’t there. 

OWS:  Well he certainly isn’t someone you want to force something on!  I’d like to ask about the Ohio State Coaching Staff, what impact have they had on your wrestling?
Jaggers: Oh, well Russ is just an unbelievable teacher, speaker, and just an unbelievable guy.  Anytime you want to feel like taking a break, you don’t want to do it because of Russ; you want to win for Russ.  He puts so much of his heart and soul into it, the last thing you want to do is disappoint the guy. 

OWS: Now, Ohio State has taken a few lumps this year.  How do you feel about the state of the program?
Jaggers: I’m not really too concerned with how we’re doing right now, people bad mouth our program, saying that because of how good of a wrestling state Ohio is we should be #1, but it’s not like anyone was predicting us to perform at that level at the beginning of the year.  I know it sounds like we’re saying “wait ‘til next year” a lot, but I really believe, sitting there watching people- we’ve got Blake Maurer, Kirk Nail, and myself ranked pretty high right now.  We’ve got Enright, Johnstone, Keegan Mueller, and “the monster” J.D. Bergman- I don’t know how anyone is going to touch him next year…..

OWS: He’s a stud.
Jaggers: He’s unbelievable, the strongest human being I have ever seen.  Truly unbelievable.  Throw those guys in the lineup, and we’ll have a much better team with everyone a year older.

OWS: In High School, you bumped up a weight and lost to Ryan Lang at an all-star match- last year, you defeated him at the Michigan State Open.  It was the first time 4x Ohio State Champions have ever met after winning four titles.  Can you tell us anything about that match?  
Jaggers:  With the matches with Schlatter and Lang, those guys being more the wrestlers you hear about in Ohio, and me being just the Division III guy, let’s say those matches weigh heavily on me.   People will try to discredit your state titles when you compete in Division III, so all of those matches with Ohio studs weigh heavily on me because I want to prove to people I could have done it in the other divisions as well. 

OWS:  As far as the match itself, you, Lang, and Johnny McGhee unquestionably have the most wide-open styles of any four-time state champions, there must have been some unbelievable flurries.  How did you score your points?
Jaggers:  I got two four-point moves, one from a reversal, and the other was a knee-pick.  With Ryan, I’ve been buddies with him, we hang out in and outside of wrestling, I remember last year when I was listening to the live audio of Nationals back in Columbus, there was no one I wanted to see make All-American more than Ryan (Lang).   It’s kind of cool being in different weight classes this year because he’s a good friend of mine.

OWS:  Does it put a strain on your friendship when you’re competing against each other? 
Jaggers: No, not really, we’re both competitors, when it comes to match time, we’re both out there to win, but 20 minutes later, it’s over and we’re friends again.

OWS:  That’s great!  Last question I had for you, obviously we’re coming down to crunch time, as a 4x Ohio State Champion, what advice do you have for current Ohio high school wrestlers as they head to the tournaments?
Jaggers: Just know that anything can happen in Columbus- all it takes is one hot weekend.  That’s where I’m at right now, too- the way I see it is all it takes is one hot weekend and I’m in the national finals.  When it comes down to crunch time, with 30 seconds left, think of the sacrifices you have made that make you different from other high school students, it’s all worth it in the end!

OWS:  Jeff, thanks for giving us this interview, we look forward to more great things! 
Jaggers:  Thanks!

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