Seven Minutes is a series of interviews with top wrestling coaches and athletes. Most of the question-and-answer sessions last roughly seven minutes. Hence the name. Three-time All-American Jaydin Eierman is taking an Olympic redshirt in 2020 and will wrestle his senior season at the University of Iowa after beginning his career at Missouri. You can listen to the entire interview above or read the transcript below. 

 

If you could take what you know now and have a conversation with yourself at 15, what advice would you give yourself?

 

I would tell myself to take the process slow. Make sure you know where you want to go. Take all the advice you can get from everyone. Take all the visits and feel what’s best for you instead of going into something and making a decision right away.

 

Let’s go back to recruiting when you were in high school. What do you remember about it? What were your top three schools, why did you pick Missouri and then why did you decide to transfer to Iowa?

 

Growing up I was always around the Missouri program so it always felt like it was home to me. I just knew everyone. My dad coached up there for a while and if I stayed home I was able to be with my dad and continue our journey together in freestyle and hopefully to the Olympics. That was a big reason I stayed and also I wanted to wrestle for my family. Everyone is there since I'm from Columbia. It felt like the right thing to do at the time. They were there at my house at 12:01 when I was able to be recruited. They wanted me and I committed the next day but I really feel like I should have waited and took the time to talk to other schools and enjoy the process. I’m 100 percent grateful for what Missouri has done for me. They took me the next level. I feel like they’ve helped me with certain aspects of my wrestling that I needed help with at the time. I am forever grateful to Coach Smith for letting bump up to 141 pounds my freshman year and to All-American and to continue to All-American for the next three years. It was just a blessing.

 

Take that further, why did you decide to transfer to Iowa?

I decided to transfer to Iowa because I felt like it was what was best for me to continue in my freestyle career. Missouri really didn’t have the best freestyle program. It was nothing against them but I needed to do what was best for me and my future and my career. I felt like this is what I needed to do. It’s nothing against them or anything but it came down to a personal choice. The main thing I needed help with was getting in that seven-minute shape where I could go for seven minutes straight as hard as I could with my wrestling style. I feel like if I could go seven minutes like that then nobody in the world can keep up with me. I felt Iowa was the best place because they’re always brawling and going hard and they never stop. We always knew that’s what I needed. We had the wrestling aspect of everything. I just needed that mental toughness, that grit of putting my head down and going.

 

If you could take one skill from any other wrestler and add it to your game, what do you think would benefit your wrestling the most?

 

I love how hard the Brandses went in college. They just put their heads down and go for seven minutes straight and they never got tired so I feel like if I could get to that point where I can go-go-go and then have my wrestling style how it is, it will wear people out to where they make mistakes and then I can capitalize on it.

 

Let’s say wrestling has one governing body and you are the president, what would you want to change?

 

I would love to make America one style and that’s freestyle. It’s really exciting and the end goal is the Olympics. I feel like that hurts us sometimes transitioning from folkstyle to freestyle when you have Russia and Iran and all these countries that have been top of the game for years—they just focus on freestyle their whole lives so they have little tricks that we don’t really understand until we get to that level.

 

What is the last thing you tell yourself before you step foot on the line?

 

Right before I step foot on that line, I’m grateful to God for everything he’s given me and this ability to do what I love and travel the world and just go out there and compete and do what I love. I just go out there, have fun, and put a show on for the fans.

 

What is the greatest compliment someone could give you?

I love it when they call my wrestling style unique. I feel like that is a good thing if they call me funky or unorthodox. I find that as a big compliment because I know it’s something nobody else is doing. When you go out there and people don’t know what you’re doing then they don’t know how to prepare for that.

 

What is the strangest thing that’s ever gone through your mind during a match?

 

I was at a dual and I couldn’t remember if I turned my lights off or not at my house. It just popped in my head.

 

What is the most interesting thing about you that has nothing to do with wrestling?

 

I’ve never drank in my life. That’s a personal choice. I saw growing up that it was a big problem with certain family members in my life so I always vowed I wouldn’t get into that and live a good lifestyle.

 

What is your greatest fear?

 

My greatest fear is not living up to what I know I can do. I know what I'm capable of. I have a family that tells me it all the time. Friends that tell me it all the time. I know it. My biggest fear is just not doing what I set out to do.

 

What is the best way to motivate Jaydin Eierman?

Knowing someone out there is getting better every single day. There’s always somebody better than who I am today. The thing that motivates me every day is getting to that new level. It’s always about making little steps toward the end goal.

 

If you could go back and wrestle anybody from any era, who would you want to compete against?

I’d love to wrestle my dad, Mike Eierman. I feel like our match would be wild and the fans would go crazy over it.