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Bo Bassett’s Ongoing Commitment Journey | UFC Fight Pass

At Only 17 Years Old, Bishop McCort Wrestler Bo Bassett Has All Of The NCAA And The Fans Waiting With Bated Breath For His Next Move
By Walker Van Wey • Jul. 24, 2024

Another Wednesday, another crop of teams eliminated.

One of the most highly sought-after high school wrestlers of all time, Bo Bassett is having fun with one of the most stressful and annoying processes in a blue-chip recruit’s life.

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“I feel like I'm doing it differently than anyone ever has,” Bassett said. “I've always done things different. So why not do recruiting different? I have my graphic that goes out every week and you know, it's pretty fun.”

Releasing a graphic on his social media channels with every D-1 program listed at the beginning of his recruitment journey, Bassett removes a handful of programs each Wednesday until the final post reveals where the Bishop McCort standout will wrestle collegiately.

Knowing his decision is one of the biggest storylines in the sport, Bassett has decided not to let the decision eat at him; instead, enjoy the ride and take the wrestling world with him.

“I love it,” Bassett said. " It's a cool place to be because you're hearing all these schools out and they're amazing, right? Honestly, I haven't come across a school where I was like, “Man, I don't like that school.” To be honest, all these schools are great, they offer great things, and they have great stuff to say.”

While an athlete of Bassett’s caliber historically sticks to top programs only, Bassett, however, cleared his schedule on opening day and took every single call that came through.

“From the first day  when it started, the calls were coming in at 12:00 AM and that was one of the most cool, and one of the nights that I've looked forward to my whole life. That night is probably a night I'll never forget,” Bassett said, still enthusiastic. “The first week was absolutely bananas. People are calling left and right and I'm going to have to call people back. They're leaving voicemails because they're calling at the same time. It was unbelievable.”

It's hard for a lot of wrestling fans to avoid speculation. It would only make sense for a wrestler in Bassett’s position to have his mind made up already, but he assures everybody that week-by-week, as he’s narrowing down his schools for the world of social media, he’s also slowly narrowing the list down to himself, as well.

“People will come up to me and they think I'm going to tell them, but even if I knew I wouldn't tell them,” Bassett laughed. “I don't even know. I have zero clue. I have my favorites, I have the teams that I know that could probably offer the most but, for me, it's still wide open. If someone super close to me asked me ‘where you going to go?’ and I was going to be honest with them, I would tell them, I'm not sure, and, for me, I feel like I've gotten that question thousands of times, and every single time I'm just like, man, I'm not sure yet, but I'm really excited to figure it out, too.”

As ready as Bassett may be for a final reveal, the social media fun may largely stop for him after he’s eliminated all but one team.

He'll no longer be the exciting, lovable high school savage to the masses. Bassett is going to become the face of one school and the enemy of every other fanbase with a single post.

Bassett has attacked every practice, match, challenge and opponent with enthusiasm and excitement. It should come as no surprise that the thought of online haters is also a concept he’s excited about.

“I’m not a part of a specific team or fan base or anything, so, my whole life, I feel like I’ve had support from everyone, but now, it's starting to really hit me,” Bassett said. “I’ve got to choose one, and when you choose one, you go all-in on that one and that's your team. I also feel like I have such a strong fan base and people that would 100% be willing to say, ‘ok, maybe that's not my team but I'm still going to root for this guy.’ And I think that that's my end goal. I want to be the guy that has an amazing style that people want to watch, and that people can get behind and support, whether I'm on their team or not. Obviously I'll probably gain fans by joining a certain college joining a team there and maybe lose some, too, but I think a lot of fans will stay with me and maybe just support me, even if it's not their team.”

At 17 years old, Bo Bassett has put himself in a position to attend Harvard, the most prestigious university in North America, Iowa, the identity of the sport, continue the Penn State reign of dominance, reshape an entire university’s identity like Campbell University or anything else in between.

With great power comes great responsibility and Bassett is ready to attack his decision full force and give whatever school and fanbase everything he’s got. Stay tuned to Bassett’s social media channels to follow the journey.

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