US Olympic Wrestling Team: Jordan Burroughs and 4 Athletes Who Must Step Up

The US Wrestling team is sporting a new look as they head into the London Games, filling their roster with a group of green wrestlers, with a dearth of Olympic experience behind them.

American wrestling has only made mainstream news with novel gimmicks in the past year, but beyond "The Flying Squirrel," there are a lot of other reasons to be excited for the future.

With a group of young, up-and-coming wrestlers on the docket, America may not be favorites in London, but they definitely have the talent to surprise a few people.

Here are four Americans to keep an eye on in the ring.

Jordan Burroughs

The Great American Hope as we trudge into London, Burroughs is ostensibly the USA's best shot of taking home the gold in 2012.

Burroughs will wrestle in the 163-lb freestyle competition, a contest he won the world championship of in Istanbul last fall.

In a low-key year for American wrestling, Burroughs is the lone member of the squad with an international gold on his resume. He will be counted on to continue his dominance, and assume a leadership role for his inexperienced teammates.

Jake Varner

Varner won two national championships at Iowa State, and is ready to start adding more international achievements to his resume.

Varner shocked the world in 2011, walking away with the bronze medal from the World Championships. With another year of experience under his belt, he's hoping he can do one (or two) better in London.

The young bruiser made it clear that he's in it to win it this summer, telling Indystar.com that "I’m going there to win the gold medal or I wouldn’t be doing this ... It’s kind of cool to say you’re an Olympian, but I want to be an Olympic champion."

You gotta like where his head is at.

Dremiel Byers

In the ring, the 264.5 lb Byers is a bad man, relentlessly pummeling his opponents into submission. But outside the ring, he's a big old teddy bear.

Byers has vowed to take home a medal from London, in honor of his late grandfather, to whom he promised he'd get one.

He's already 37-years-old, so it's likely this will be his last chance at eternal glory. That being said, he looked spry (or as spry as one can look at 264.5 lbs) at the 2011 US Open, winning the gold for his class, so he might have a little bit of fight left in him.

Spenser Mango

Mango finished eighth in the 2008 Beijing Games, but since then he has been on a warpath.

He looked infallible in the USA Olympic trials, besting his opponents (2-0, 6-0), (3-0, 5-0) and (1-0, 1-0).

He won his fourth US Open Championship last year, and between him and Burroughs, we appear to have the 163-lb weight class in good hands for both the freestyle and Greco-Roman disciplines.