2020 NCAA Preview: 285 lbs.
2019 All-Americans in Bold, Qualifiers in Italics
| Northeast 1 | DiNardo | JWU | 44-6 |
| Northeast 2 | Irwin | Coast Guard | 30-2 |
| Northeast 3 | Fusco | Springfield | 19-3 |
| Mideast 1 | Knapp | Brockport | 34-3 |
| Mideast 2 | Connelly | Scranton | 33-4 |
| Mideast 3 | Weinger | RIT | 22-4 |
| Southeast 1 | McGeary | Waynesburg | 31-3 |
| Southeast 2 | Rodenhaber | Alvernia | 32-2 |
| Southeast 3 | Ramirez | Southern Virginia | 31-4 |
| Central 1 | Kasper | Otterbein | 31-0 |
| Central 2 | Bishop | Wabash | 29-4 |
| Central 3 | Espinoza | Adrian | 31-4 |
| Lower Midwest 1 | Lee | Central | 27-6 |
| Lower Midwest 2 | Wriedt | Loras | 21-10 |
| Lower Midwest 3 | Brandon | Wartburg | 14-2 |
| Upper Midwest 1 | Lemcke | Oshkosh | 22-7 |
| Upper Midwest 2 | Carter | Eau Claire | 20-11 |
| Upper Midwest 3 | Fibranz | Chicago | 24-3 |
Heavyweight has the most new faces of any weight in the tournament. Only the top-ranked Drew Kasper placed last year, and Patrick Irwin of Coast Guard is the only other returner at the weight. Northeast champ Michael DiNardo of Johnson & Wales qualified at 197 last year, but the other 15 competitors were not in the bracket. Kasper is currently undefeated with wins over five of the entries at this weight.
Joe Fusco and Nico Ramirez both qualified here in 2018, while Sam Weinger qualified for RIT in 2017. All three finished 3rd in their respective regions to earn a trip back to the tournament. DiNardo and Irwin finished ahead of Fusco, while Ramirez is behind freshman Rocky McGeary of Waynesburg. Richard Knapp won the Mideast and has split with Weinger. Duncan Lee won the Lower Midwest as a seventh seed. A surprise in that region was Jerhett Lee, who had not lost a DIII match before the tournament, finishing sixth. Jordon Lemcke won an Upper Midwest region where the top seed did not qualify despite having a single DIII loss before the tournament.
Isaiah Espinoza of Adrian finished 3rd in his region but has wins this year over McGeary, Rodenhaber, and Lee. He earned his spot with a tiebreaker win over 2019 qualifier Grant Miller of Wheaton. The final spot in the Lower Midwest also came down to a tiebreaker with Wartburg’s Jordon Brandon prevailing to give his team their fifth qualifier.