Is Penn State wrestling’s Brady Berge back for good? Here’s what coach Cael Sanderson said
Penn State wrestling’s Brady Berge, who returned to action this past weekend after a two-month absence, still is no lock to wrestle in the Big Ten championships, according to coach Cael Sanderson.
The Nittany Lions’ head coach said Tuesday he was also “not sure” whether the 157-pound redshirt sophomore would even wrestle Sunday against American.
“Yeah, I’d say things are a little bit in motion,” Sanderson said, referring to Big Tens. “We don’t have a lot of time there but, yeah, we’re always playing with things.”
Berge returned to the mat Saturday but didn’t look like himself in a 4-3 loss to Ohio State’s unranked Quinn Kinner. Before his injury, Berge was ranked nationally in the top five and he was seen as a potential All-American. But he clearly still had some rust to shake off against the Buckeye.
For Berge, the season took an unwanted turn Oct. 30 at the U23 World Championships when he suffered a severe head injury, laying motionless before he was rushed to the hospital. He returned Dec. 6 against Lehigh and edged out No. 8 Josh Humphreys, 11-7, but did not return again until Saturday.
When asked if Berge had recovered OK, Sanderson simply shook his head yes.
“It’s his first match in a long period of time,” Sanderson said Tuesday, referring to his 4-3 loss, “and what he went through last October is a big challenge for anybody to figure out. But, yeah, we’ll see what we do with that weight moving forward here.”
Sanderson said he knew about a day, maybe two, ahead of the match that Berge was going to wrestle. If Berge can’t go in the future, the Nittany Lions will likely trot out Bo Pipher (9-11) or Luke Gardner (6-2), both of whom have earned starts this season. The pair have gone a combined 1-7 against Big Ten dual competition.
Regardless, Sanderson said it was still a positive in seeing Berge compete on the mat Saturday — and he’s holding out hope that won’t be the last time this season.
“Everyone loves Brady,” the coach added. “He’s just kind, he’s nice — he’s a great wrestler, obviously — but he’s just a kid that everyone in the program loves.”
The Nittany Lions will host American at 2 p.m. Sunday, and Big Tens will take place March 7-8 in Piscataway, N.J.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
