Penn State wrestling’s Shakur Rasheed discusses heated battle for the starting spot at 197

Penn State wrestler Shakur Rasheed didn’t mince words. Sure, he was frustrated.

He and Anthony Cassar are close friends. Cassar even surfed on his couch for two weeks, and Rasheed recently spent a day at Cassar’s while binging on Netflix’s “Black Mirror.” But, despite that familiarity, they’re also both competing for the same thing — the starting spot at 197 pounds.

That can make for some awkward confrontations on the mat.

“It’s very annoying,” Rasheed said. “You want to be able to talk to each other and be like, ‘Hey, do this. Do that.’ But, at the same time, it’s like, ‘I want that spot.’ We push each other, regardless, but it’s definitely hard.”

Sporting a gray Penn State T-shirt, Rasheed spoke to the media Tuesday in a sincere-but-lighthearted tone. He didn’t try pretending it was easy to battle with his friend over something they both wanted. But he was also adamant this hasn’t come between the two.

It’s a competition between friends — that just doesn’t necessarily make it a “friendly” competition.

“We don’t talk about it,” he said, referring to the battle for the starting spot, “because ‘friendly’ is kind of a little far-fetched. Like, yeah, of course, we’re brothers and all that — but we both want the spot.”

Cassar and Rasheed haven’t made the decision easy on coach Cael Sanderson. Matt McCutcheon was initially expected to start but injury defaulted at the Keystone Classic and was eventually surpassed in the starting lineup by Cassar, who topped Penn’s No. 7 wrestler in Frank Mattiace. Rasheed pushed for the starting nod after the Southern Scuffle, in which he pinned three ranked opponents in less than a minute and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Both wrestlers are 13-2. And no one even seems sure how to rank them. InterMat has Rasheed at No. 10, but the coaches have him unranked. The coaches have Cassar ranked at No. 7, but Intermat didn’t rank him at all.

“You see what I see,” Sanderson said. “Shakur is a guy who can pick up bonus points. Cassar is just real solid and a big, strong kid who’s getting better. It’s a tough decision; we think both of them have a chance.”

Rasheed started Friday against Purdue, while Cassar was in the starting lineup Sunday against Maryland. Sanderson said he’s not sure who’ll start this weekend, against Minnesota and Rutgers.

Rasheed and Cassar aren’t talking about it. “We’ll pop a couple jokes here and there,” Rasheed added, “but never about wrestling.”

Rasheed has been in a similar position before. As a freshman, he battled with Geno Morelli for the starting spot. Ditto for when he was a sophomore. Now, as a junior, he’s in maybe the most competitive weight class on any team in the country. After all, what other team has three wrestlers that have all been ranked in the top 10 at some point this season?

“It’s pretty crazy how it works,” Rasheed said with a smile. “But that’s Penn State.”

Sanderson believes both athletes have a chance at the national title. So does teammate Jason Nolf.

But only one wrestler can move on to NCAAs. It’s not clear who that will be. But Rasheed tried to figure out an outside-the-box idea for future Penn State bouts.

“I wish we could ... just do a tag team,” Rasheed said with a smile. “ You know, us two versus them two.

“But,” he said, glancing down, a little defeated, “you can’t do that.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 9:35 PM with the headline "Penn State wrestling’s Shakur Rasheed discusses heated battle for the starting spot at 197."