Who is Penn State wrestling sending to the Black Knight Invite? Here’s what we know
Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said in last week’s media day that some of his Nittany Lions could wrestle a modified schedule this year, mixing in freestyle competition as they work to qualify for the Olympic trials April 4-5 at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Well, that idea of a modified schedule will first come into play this weekend.
Vincenzo Joseph and Anthony Cassar won’t be part of a 15-wrestler contingent for the Nittany Lions traveling to Army West Point for the Black Knight Invitational. Instead, the pair will head to Manhattan for the Bill Farrell Memorial International Open, an Olympic qualifier.
So, who is going to the Black Knight Invitational?
“I think we’re taking three at (1)25 (pounds), (1)49 a couple and a couple at (1)57,” Sanderson said Tuesday. “We get to take some guys we wouldn’t be able to take normally.”
Sanderson side-stepped when asked to go into further detail about who will be competing at Army. However, he did hint at who the Nittany Lions would likely be sending, when factoring out the redshirts.
Some names he did throw out included Austin Hoopes (197/285 pounds) and Konner Kraeszig (165). Hoopes and Kraeszig may serve as the fill-ins for Joseph and Cassar. Although, it is unclear which weight Hoopes will compete in.
“Austin has been kind of floating in between weights,” Sanderson said. “We got some younger guys, so that’s one of those weights that we’re going to be creative with. We know Austin’s a tough guy, he’s just a little undersized. He jumped at the idea that he might be wrestling, so he put some weight on right away. (He) pretty much cleaned out our protein shake refrigerator over the last month or two, but he might wrestle (1)97, he might wrestle heavyweight.”
Based on information provided by Sanderson, it’s a pretty good assumption that with the exception of Joseph and Cassar, those who wrestled in Sunday’s dual against Navy will also compete this Sunday. Those wrestlers were Brody Teske (125 pounds), Roman Bravo-Young (133), Nick Lee (141), Luke Gardner (149), Bo Pipher (157), Mark Hall (174), Creighton Edsell (184) and Kyle Conel (197).
As for the additional wrestlers Sanderson alluded to, Devin Schnupp and Brandon Meredith are two who Sanderson has previously mentioned have been competitive at the 125-pound spot, and Jarod Verkleeren at 149.
The only other wrestler listed at 157 pounds on Penn State’s roster is presumed starter Brady Berge. However, Berge and sixth-year senior Shakur Rasheed were both held out of competition last weekend as they continue to recover from past injuries. Sanderson said the coaching staff is still undecided on whether the pair will wrestle this weekend.
“With both those guys, it’s going to be a day-to-day thing,” he said. “If we don’t have to wrestle them, there’s no reason to do that. Obviously, they want to compete. But, we’ve still got a few months ahead of the season here.”
One thing Sanderson made clear is that none of those wrestlers who are redshirting will compete in the Black Knight Invitational. In football, redshirt athletes can play up to four games without their redshirt status being affected, but it doesn’t happen in wrestling.
So, Penn State fans are going to have to wait a little longer to see Joe Lee, Michael Beard, Seth Nevills, Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci put the blue and white singlet on. That doesn’t mean they aren’t ready to compete, though.
“You’re not gonna burn a redshirt for a few matches,” Sanderson said. “I mean those guys are ready to go. You never know what’s going to happen. But, it would make no sense to wrestle those guys just for a few matches. If we had the football rule where you could wrestle four matches, that’d be great, but we don’t have that.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 7:44 PM.
