Jordan Burroughs: A Collegiate Wrestling Legacy

Jordan Ernest Burroughs, born on July 8, 1988, in Camden, New Jersey, has etched his name in wrestling history. From his early days in Sicklerville, New Jersey, to becoming an Olympic gold medalist and a multiple-time world champion, Burroughs' journey is a testament to dedication, perseverance, and unwavering passion for the sport. This article delves into his remarkable college wrestling career, highlighting his achievements, challenges, and the moments that shaped him into one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

Early Life and High School Career

Burroughs began wrestling at the age of five, inspired by the wrestlers of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He attended Winslow Township High School, where he excelled in wrestling, football, and track. By the time he was a senior, he had won three district titles, two regional championships, and the 2006 New Jersey state title at 135 pounds, capping a 35-2 senior season and a 115-20 career. That same year, he won Senior Nationals, a tournament comprised of the best senior wrestlers throughout the country. Despite these accomplishments, Burroughs received only one scholarship offer as a senior in high school.

Collegiate Career at Nebraska

Burroughs' transition to college wrestling at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) was initially challenging. He notes that he was often homesick and had to battle for his starting spot that first year.

2006-07 (Freshman)

Burroughs started the season at 141 pounds, but after a 1-2 showing at the Harold Nichols Open, he moved to 149 and won 12 of his 17 matches. He finished fourth at the Kaufman-Brand Open with a 6-2 showing in the amateur bracket. Burroughs made his first start for NU at 149 pounds on Jan. 5, losing a narrow 8-6 decision to Derek Kipperberg of Oregon State. He earned his first career dual win in a 10-5 triumph over Oklahoma State's T.J. Jackson. At the Big 12 Championships, Burroughs earned a third-place finish. He went 1-2 in his first trip to the NCAA Championships, losing to No. 1 national seed Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in the first round, 3-1. He ended his freshman year with a 16-13 record.

2007-08 (Sophomore)

This year, Burroughs left no doubt about his role at Nebraska. He won the wrestle-off against teammate Chris Hacker, topped his bracket at the Cowboy Open and finished second at the Kaufman-Brand Open, an improvement from his fourth-place finish the year before. His Las Vegas Invitation win in November brought national attention to the Husker, but he faced a tough opponent in his first dual post-tournament and dropped to rematch against Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in a nail-bitter of a battle. Burroughs' nearly flawless dual record helped him earn the top seed at the Big 12 tournament, and he secured his first conference title after back-to-back bonus point wins against Will Rowe of Oklahoma and Mitch Mueller of Iowa State. As the No. 4 seed at the national tournament, Burroughs wrestled tough in his first three matches, earning two decisions and a tech fall. In the semifinals, the Nebraska All-American faced a familiar foe and the eventual national champion in this bracket: Brent Metcalf. Burroughs dropped down to the consolation bracket after his loss to Metcalf and met J.P. O'Connor of Harvard, one of the best wrestlers to ever don the Crimson singlet. O'Connor earned All-American honors as a true freshman the year before, and he pushed Burroughs in the consolation semifinals, though the Husker prevailed 5-3. Burroughs then won his third-place match against No. 5 Josh Churella of Michigan. He finished the season with a 34-6 overall record. He also set the school single-season record with 98 dual takedowns and surrendered just seven on the year. Burroughs asserted himself as an All-America contender with his 6-1 record at the Las Vegas Invite to place third. He notched three wins over ranked opponents, including then-second ranked Josh Churella of Michigan. Burroughs started all 17 of NU's duals and finished with a 14-3 record.

2008-09 (Junior)

In just two years, Jordan Burroughs went from losing wrestle-offs at both 141 and 149 pounds to topping his teammate by technical superiority at the start of the season and beginning a run toward a national championship. Burroughs started the year at 149 pounds but quickly made the shift up to 157 to start the dual season. His first matches in this new weight class were stellar, as he majored No. 19 Joey Knox of Chattanooga and bonused Jon Brascetta of Oregon State on back-to-back weekends. He then took on some of the most elite wrestlers in his weight class at the Las Vegas Invite, but he handled them both, winning 3-2 over Harvard's J.P. The postseason meant more titles for Burrroughs, as he won his second conference championship after wins over Neil Erisman of Oklahoma State and Michael Chandler of Missouri before earning the top spot heading into the NCAA tournament. Unlike Burroughs' first NCAA tournament, where he met top-ranked Schlatter in the first round and lost, this time Burroughs was in that lead position and winning. He topped Hadley Harrison of Clarion by technical fall and then pinned Colton Salazar of Purdue. This dominance continued, as he majored his next two opponents to set up a match against Michael Poeta, an Illini legend who would finish his career as a two-time finalist and three-time All-American. Burroughs posted a perfect 5-0 record to become Nebraska's 10th national champion. He picked up three bonus-point wins to start the tournament, earning a 23-7 technical fall over Clarion's Hadley Harrison, before pinning Purdue's Colton Salazar in 2:27. Burroughs earned his third major decision of the year against Iowa State's Cyler Sanderson, defeating him 14-6 in the quarterfinals. Burroughs' regular season was highlighted by his first-place showing at the Las Vegas Invitational that included wins over All-American J.P. O'Connor of Harvard and defending NCAA champion Jordan Leen of Cornell. Burroughs was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Burroughs broke the NU single-season dual takedown record for the second straight year with 117 in 19 duals. Burroughs was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Month (November) and Big 12 Wrestler of the Week (Dec. 8), while leading the Huskers in every statistical category except pins.

2009-10 (Senior/Medical Redshirt)

Defending national champion - that was a new title for Jordan Burroughs. The expectations were high for the Husker leader, but he lived up to them with authority. Burroughs started his season in the Nebraska wrestling room with a pin over his teammate Michael Klinginsmith in 1:26 at 157 pounds during the team's intersquad meet, but he added an official pin to his resume with a first-period fall against Greg Burke of Wisconsin on Nov. 15. His pin, which he earned just 25 seconds into the match, is the fastest fall by a Nebraska wrestler during the Big 12 era. This was the start Jordan Burroughs was looking for as he aimed to defend his title. At the Journeymen/Brute, Burroughs was similarly dominant, winning two of his four matches by bonus points, including a notable major decision against No. Everything was on track. Or so it seemed. A mouth injury kept Burroughs from defending his title at the Las Vegas Invite, but he was back on the mat against Minnesota on Dec. 10 where he earned a 24-9 technical fall against Joe Grygelko in a dual that would prove to be his last of the year. His next match came against Central Michigan, but Burroughs would end up not being able to finish this match. He explained in a blog post that his scramble with Steve Brown tore up his LCL and PCL and ended his season. Nebraska's Tyler Koehn would ultimately take on the spot, place fourth at the Big 12 tournament and finished the year with a 15-15 record. Burroughs was off to a dominating 7-0 start with four bonus-point wins when his season came to a sudden end on Dec. 19 vs. Central Michigan. Wrestling No. 13 Steve Brown, Burroughs tore his left PCL and LCL in the first period. He finished the match, but dropped a 3-2 overtime decision that broke his streak of 44 consecutive wins. The injured Burroughs was ranked No. 1 at the time of the injury. In the first dual of the season, Burroughs pinned Wisconsin's Greg Burke in 25 seconds, the fastest fall by a Husker in the Big 12 era.

2010-11 (Senior)

Injuries can feel devastating, and Burroughs explained in his blog that he felt this despair after his junior year. He was the defending champion, the best in the country, and then, within a matter of minutes, he was unable to move. After extensive rehab, though and the full support of his teammates and coaches, Burroughs was back on the mat following his medical redshirt year, and he was ready for another shot at glory. Bumping up to 165 pounds, his third weight class in as many years, Burroughs started the year in the most dominant way possible, teching his first two opponents and then pinning the next three. His match against Corey Lear of Bucknell on Nov. His bonus streak continued with a major decision against Patrick Martinez of Wyoming and then two more tech falls before Burroughs traveled to Midlands to win his first tournament title at that event. His finals match win against defending NCAA champion Andrew Howe helped him earn Outstanding Wrestler honors and snapped Howe's 48-match winning streak. He went 3-0 at the Lone Star Duals with a major decision, technical fall and pin and then picked up bonus in all but one of his remaining duals. Oklahoma's Tyler Caldwell, a two-time NCAA finalist, held Burroughs to a decision in both the dual at the Big 12 finals, but the Husker took his W and kept advancing. Looking to become the school's first two-time national champion, Burroughs left no doubt to who was the best wrestler in the country after his dominating performance at the NCAA Championships. Wrestling less than an hour away from his hometown of Sicklerville, N.J., Burroughs went unscathed through the 165-pound bracket by collecting five bonus-point victories in route to the championship. After opening the tournament with a technical fall victory over Pitt's Ethan Headlee and an injury default win over Justin Lister from Binghamton, Burroughs defeated three top 10 opponents in the last three rounds, including returning All-American No. 8 Scott Winston from Rutgers and Ohio State's Colt Sponseller, the fifth seed, in the semifinals. Wrestling for the third time this season, Burroughs defeated Big 12 rival Tyler Caldwell from Oklahoma, 11-3, for the title. Burroughs garnered the third Big 12 Championship of his career after defeating Chris Spangler from Iowa State in the semifinals, and Oklahoma's Tyler Caldwell in the tournament final in Ames, Iowa. In a rematch from the regular season between the countries top two wrestlers, Burroughs used a reversal with just over a minute left in the match to gain a 2-1 edge over Caldwell, after trailing for the majority of the match. In the semifinals, Burroughs defeated Spangler by major decision, 16-8. Burroughs became only the second Nebraska wrestler to win three Big 12 titles and the only fifth Husker to win three conference titles in school history. Burroughs began the regular season with a 165-pound open title at the Harold Nichols Classic in his first action back from injury. Burroughs recorded bonus-point victories in his first 17 matches during the regular season, including a 23-7 technical fall victory over No. 6 Cody Yohn from Minnesota and a major decision over Cal Poly's Ryan DesRoches, who was ranked No. 15. The streak of bonus-point victories was broken in the finals of the Midlands Championships when Burroughs defeated returning national champion and No. 1 rated Andrew Howe from Wisconsin, 10-7, for the 165 pound title. The first place finish marked the first Midlands Champion for Nebraska since Brad Vering in 1999. For his efforts at the Midlands Championships, Burroughs was awarded with the tournament's Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler award, while also receiving the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week award the following week. The Big 12 honor was his second during the season after being honored earlier in the year on Dec. 13. The 165-pound division in the Big 12 conference was one of the deepest and most talented weight classes in the country, with four wrestlers finishing the regular season in the top 15. Burroughs toughest test came against Oklahoma's Tyler Caldwell, who entered the Jan. 28 match ranked No. 2 in the country. Burroughs was dominant in his victory over Caldwell, defeating him by a 7-3 count.

College Career Statistics

Jordan Burroughs ended his college career with 128-20-0 record, making him unquestionably one of the best Husker wrestlers in program history.

Post-Collegiate Career

As a two-time NCAA champ, Burroughs had proven he was a great wrestler. But he was just getting started. Just weeks after topping the 165-pound bracket on the NCAA level, Burroughs stayed the course, continuing to compete. Open in early April and won, rolling through the bracket for gold. He then signed up for World Team Trials, qualified for his first wold team and won his first world title, all within six months. Jordan Burroughs was no longer just an underdog from New Jersey. He was the best at his weight class, and he proved that in April of 2012 when he beat Andrew Howe again, this time for the Olympic team spot. Flash forward to the summer, and Burroughs was taking on the best in the world. He beat Francisco Soler of Puerto Rico, Matt Gentry of Canada, Denis Tsargush of Russia and Sadegh Goudarzi of Iran consecutively to earn his first Olympic gold medal. Open title in April. No one could stop Burroughs, not even four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake, the opponent he met at the World Team Trials in June. Burroughs started his 2014 season with strong performances at the Yasar Dogu, but his winning streak that had stretched for over three years came to an end in a 4-4 criteria loss to Nick Marable in the quarterfinals of this tournament. The Olympic champion would go on to finish third in the Dogu, winning another medal. At his third World Championship tournament, Burroughs looked sharp. He cruised to the semifinals after wins against Augusto Midana and Rashid Kurbanov, but a semifinal loss to Denis Tsargush forced Burroughs to ultimately settle for bronze. This third-place finish would be the first of three World bronze medals, as Burroughs would finish third in 2018 and 2019 before winning gold again in 2021 up at a new weight class. Burroughs returned to the Yasar Dogu tournament at the start of the 2016 and won his weight class, building momentum. A win at the Pan American Games also showed that Burroughs was primed and ready to qualify for his second Olympic team. At this point in his career, Burroughs had become one of the main faces of USA men's freestyle wrestling. Expectations were high. He won his opening round of the Games by a score of 8-3, generating attention and creating hype as his quest for a second gold medal continued. Then came the quarterfinals match. Burroughs wrestled Aniuar Geduev of Russia, and, despite a valiant effort, dropped 3-2. He then lost his consolation semifinals match by technical fall. That was it. Following this disappointment, Burroughs rebounded. That's what champions do. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist hadn't lost much on the senior level, but he took these Olympic losses in stride and came back in 2017 and won the world championships at the same weight he came up empty-handed in the previous year. He beat Ali Shabanau, Sosuke Takatani, Zelimkhan Khadjiev, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov and then Khetag Tsabolov to reclaim his spot on the top of the podium and end the year victorious. The Olympic Trials for the Tokyo Games, originally scheduled for April 2020, were delayed one year, forcing Burroughs to wait even longer for his opportunity. He took on some exhibition matches against domestic opponents, but, all the while, he was gearing up for 2021. He wasn't the only one getting ready though. Longtime rival Kyle Dake was looking for his shot to make an Olympic team, and though he had only ever beaten Burroughs once, in one match of a best-of-three finals in the 2017 World Team Trials, Dake believed he was the better wrestler, and he wasn't afraid to say that. The Cornell legend worked his way through the Trials bracket in April of 2021 while Burroughs, as the returning world medalist, waited for him in the finals. These matches were expected to be electric, and they lived up to the hype. Dake won the first match 3-2, putting the pressure on Burroughs. Dake then followed up that first score with a 3-0 victory in the second match, ending Burroughs' chance for Olympic glory. Burroughs' disappointment was clear, but his interviews following the Trials suggested that he wasn't done competing. Six months later, Burroughs was back to his winning ways, this time at a new weight. He was comfortable at 79kg. Burroughs added a gold medal at the Yasar Dogu to his resume in February of 2022 and then notched a title at the 2022 Pan American Games in May. He was peaked and ready to qualify for another world team. Enter Chance Marsteller. The two-time All-American from Lock Haven was in the midst of his own personal comeback when the two wrestlers met at Final X, USA Wrestling's site for determining the World Team rep at weights with a returning world medalist. Burroughs was the unquestionable favorite. He was the reigning world champion and the six-time World and Olympic medalist. But Marsteller does not quit. Burroughs won the first match in the best-of-three series 4-0 but dropped the second match 2-2, creating hype, anticipation and excitement. With his World team spot on the line in Madison Square Garden, Burroughs did what Burroughs does in these situations, and he battled for six minutes to secure the 5-0 win. Six months have passed since that tense match on the mat in New York. Burroughs' World championship goals, and the mission he planned to pursue this fall were no secret. He wanted to make history. And, on Sept. He's one of the greatest ever.

Coaching Career

Olympic Gold Medalist Jordan Burroughs finished his first season as an assistant coach for the Huskers in 2014-15. During his first season, Burroughs helped guide three Huskers to All-America accolades as Nebraska finished ninth as a team at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Individually, James Green and Robert Kokesh each collected third-place finishes, while TJ Dudley notched an eighth-place result.

Awards and Honors

USOC Male Olympic Athlete of the Year (2015)
USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the Year (2011, 2012, 2013)
Dan Hodge Trophy winner (2011)
Big 12 Outstanding Wrestler (2008)

Personal Life

Jordan Burroughs is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith saying, "A gold medal is always going to leave you empty. … There's no other thing in life that's more fulfilling than a relationship with Jesus Christ. He married Lauren Mariacher on Oct. 12, 2013. They have three children: Beacon, Ora, and Rise Ivory. Burroughs enjoys fishing, reading, cars, fashion, family, and eating. He is a self-proclaimed foodie and aspiring entrepreneur. In August 2024, he expressed support to Vinesh Phogat who was disqualified from the Paris Olympics and demanded the silver medal for her.

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