Michigan’s Eric Grajales wins the Cliff Keen Invitational on Saturday. Tony Rotundo photo.

LAS VEGAS – Michigan’s Eric Grajales has a stop-sign collection that would make most wrestlers envious.

Grajales won more than his share of stop-signed shaped championship plaques while dominating opponents in the USA Wrestling age-group ranks.
	
Now Grajales, one of the nation’s most coveted recruits coming out of Brandon (Fla.) High School, is ready to make a huge impact on the collegiate level.

Grajales has rebounded from two early losses this season and looked strong in winning the 149-pound title at the Cliff Keen Invitational on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Grajales, a two-time U.S. Junior World Team member in Greco-Roman wrestling, downed Air Force’s Cole Von Ohlen 9-1 in the Cliff Keen finals. Von Ohlen was ranked No. 5 nationally.

“Winning that tournament, it’s a huge boost for me,” said Grajales, a sophomore who is now ranked No. 3 nationally at 149. “I know I am capable of beating anybody as long as I put pressure on them. Seeing what I did in Vegas, I know I am just as good as all of these other guys.”

Grajales dropped an early season match to No. 3 Tyler Nauman of Pittsburgh. He also fell to Indiana’s Taylor Walsh, but avenged that loss with a 19-4 win over Walsh in Las Vegas. Nauman placed fourth in Vegas.

“I need to win every single position, every scramble, every period, everywhere on the mat,” Grajales said. “I need to go all-out, 100 percent of the time instead of going in short bursts, which I’ve been known to do. I need to keep pushing through everything.”

Working with new Michigan assistant coaches Donny Pritzlaff and Sean Bormet already is paying dividends for Grajales.

Pritzlaff is a past World bronze medalist and two-time NCAA champion. Bormet was an NCAA runner-up for Michigan and is one of the top freestyle coaches in the country.

“They’ve brought so much knowledge to the room, in everything we do,” Grajales said. “They are always in my ear, giving me tips on my diet and telling me what I should do off the mat. They are amazing coaches with a lot of experience. They have a different set of techniques and a different approach for how they do things. They will ask me to shoot five double-legs and pick out little things that would help me improve it. My hand may be two or three inches out of position, and that may make the difference for me.”

Grajales was projected to wrestle 133 as a redshirt freshman last season, but was too big for that division. He then moved up to 149 since teammate Kellen Russell was at 141. Russell won the NCAA title at 141 this past March.

Even though Grajales was undersized at 149, he placed second at the 2011 Big Ten Championships. He fell one win short of earning All-American honors at his first NCAA tournament despite being unseeded.

One of his wins came in the second round against No. 1 seed and past NCAA champion Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State. The two wrestlers were locked in a scramble when Caldwell injured his shoulder and was unable to continue.

“I learned a lot of different things from being in that tournament,” said Grajales, whose brother Cesar was an NCAA qualifier for Penn. “I gained a lot of experience, being there and seeing what it’s like. I have wrestled in a lot of big tournaments, like the Olympic Trials and the Junior Worlds, but there really is no crowd that competes with the NCAAs.

“To be there and feel the pressure and know what it’s like, is huge for me. Going into it this year, I will know what to expect, which will help.”

The 5-foot-4 Grajales spent the offseason adding 15 pounds of muscle in the Michigan weight room. He looks stronger and leaner as he begins his sophomore season.

“I feel a lot stronger, and I can move guys a lot better now,” Grajales said. “I can scramble out of positions better because of the strength and muscle I’ve put on. It has made a huge difference. I feel great now. 149 is a great fit for me.”

Grajales is an athletic and dangerous wrestler, with a strong Greco background where he can throw opponents to their backs.

“Eric’s definitely grown into that weight class, with the summer training and lifting he did,” Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. “Our big thing with Eric is making sure he is wresting complete matches like he did out in Vegas. He is starting to see the benefits from doing that.

“When he’s on the offense, he can do special things. We want to get him in great shape so he can go hard for seven minutes. He’s such a gifted wrestler. When he’s attacking, he has a lot of offense and he is hard to stop. If he does that, he is going to be right in the hunt this year.”

Grajales is in a loaded room that includes Russell along with past NCAA All-Americans Josh Churella and Jimmy Kennedy, who are training in freestyle.

“I have a great training situation, it’s amazing,” he said. “I have the best of every World, with top college guys and top freestyle guys in there as well. I have someone who is going to push me all the time and may be better than me in every position. That is definitely making me better.”

Russell, a senior, is looking to win his second straight NCAA title.

“It’s great to train with Kellen,” Grajales said. “It’s inspirational. He’s got the will and he’s got the drive to be the best. He hates to lose and wants to win so badly. Watching him, it shows me that it is there for the taking if you want it bad enough.”

Grajales said he plans to continue to wrestle in the international styles during the spring and summer. He placed fifth at the 2008 U.S. Senior Nationals and competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Greco while still in high school.

“I love Greco, and I hope in the future I can continue with it,” he said. “It’s hard to say because I am in a room with folkstyle and freestyle guys. I love freestyle as much as I do folkstyle and Greco, so it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen in the future.”