VT’s Campbell ruled out for season, Aaron Seidel’s redshirt likely to be pulled

Photo: Aaron Seidel (VT) celebrates a Midlands finals pin over two-time U23 World champ Reineri Ortega. Photo by Sam Janicki.

By Tristan Warner

Unfortunate news broke out of Blacksburg, Va. over the past 48 hours, as rumors began to swirl that Hokie redshirt freshman Dillon Campbell, currently ranked No. 12 in WIN’s latest Jan. 20 rankings, had succumbed to a season-ending injury.

Friday morning, Virginia Tech head coach Tony Robie put out a statement on X on the matter, saying, “Due to a season-ending injury, Dillon Campbell will be unable to compete the rest of the season. We look forward to Dillon’s continued impact on our team. We are in full support of his healthy recovery and return for 2026-27 season.”

Campbell, hailing from Springboro, Ohio and a graduate of Legacy Christian High School, had compiled a 17-5 record over the course of the 2025-26 season, which included a fourth-place finish at the CKLV Invite in December.

Interestingly, VT has perhaps even more firepower coming as Campbell’s replacement for the duration of the season. True freshman Aaron Seidel, who had been redshirting for the Hokies, will likely look to slide into the 133-pound starting slot.

A native of Fredricksburg, Pa., the Northern Lebanon High School grad was among the class of 2025’s top recruits and became Pennsylvania’s all-time high School wins leader with 206 career victories. His bid for a fourth state title was cut short when he fell in the 132-pound Pennsylvania AA state finals to Jax Forrest by a 7-1 decision.

After being sidelined with an injury much of the first semester, Seidel debuted collegiately at the Midlands where he went 5-0 with three techs and two pins. One of his tech-fall victories came against 2024 All-American Dylan Shawver of Rutgers, while his finals pin came against former two-time U23 World gold medalist Reineri Ortega, who trains with the Cyclone RTC.

A week later, Seidel won the David Lehman F&M Open in Lancaster, Pa., going 6-0 with six consecutive tech falls. One of those was over Penn’s two-time NCAA qualifier Max Gallagher, while his finals tech came against Cornell commit Isaiah Cortez, who was ranked No. 3 in WIN’s final 2025 high school boys’ rankings and trains with Spartan Combat in New York.

Seidel looks to join perhaps the deepest weight class in NCAA DI wrestling this season, as 133 is not only extremely talented and deep but also surprisingly young. Seidel joins the mix of super freshmen including No. 2 Ben Davino, No. 4 Marcus Blaze, No. 5 Kyler Larkin and No. 13 Jax Forrest.