Why coach Cael Sanderson said Penn State plans to wrestle its ‘best team’ each dual this season
Amid a pandemic, not a lot can be certain.
But Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson was clear about one thing when addressing the media on Tuesday ahead of his team’s 2020-21 campaign: “The best guys are going to compete.”
There’s no shortage of top talent on the No. 2-ranked Nittany Lions — a team that has nine individual wrestlers ranked by InterMat — and thanks to a few wrinkles this season, Sanderson and Co. will have more of an opportunity to figure out just what their best lineup might be.
This season, teams will be able to wrestle more than the traditional 10 matches at duals. That will help more wrestlers — including backups — meet the four-match requirement to qualify for NCAAs during a condensed season that’s likely to be plagued by missed bouts due to COVID-19 and the Big Ten’s 17-day minimum quarantine after a positive COVID-19 test.
“We’re going to wrestle as many exhibition matches as we can each week,” Sanderson said. “It’s a great blessing for the guys who aren’t the starters this year. I’m excited about that. It just keeps everybody engaged, and maybe something we can look at doing as a sport moving forward. We’ll see.”
Beyond helping to qualify wrestlers for the postseason, that tool will also help Penn State — which will be fielding a relatively young lineup — better determine who its best wrestlers are at each weight in a season without the typical open tournaments.
While Sanderson declined to reveal the starting lineup for Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. dual against Rutgers, he — and the updated roster, which was released Tuesday — did give some hints.
Veteran All-Americans senior Nick Lee and junior Roman Bravo-Young appear to be returning to their weights of 141 and 133 pounds, respectively. Lee is one of just three seniors on the roster, along with Luke Gardner (149) and Bo Pipher (149/157).
Other familiar faces will be Aaron Brooks, who won the Big Ten tournament at 184 pounds as a freshman last year before the season’s abrupt end, and junior Brady Berge, who is set to make his return to the lineup at 157 pounds after missing most of last season battling the aftermath of a head injury.
“Berge’s back and looking good, looking healthy,” Sanderson said. “That was something that we, obviously, less than a year ago, weren’t sure if we’ve seen him back. But he’s a tough kid and loves to compete.”
The rest of the lineup will likely feature a lot of freshmen. And with the NCAA granting eligibility relief to 2020-21 winter sports athletes, teams won’t have to worry about burning redshirts this season. Everyone can wrestle without exhausting a year of eligibility.
True freshmen who Sanderson mentioned could be competing for starting spots this season are Robbie Howard at 125 pounds and Beau Bartlett, who could battle against the likes of Gardner, Pipher and junior Jarod Verkleeren to represent the Nittany Lions at 149 pounds.
Redshirt freshmen likely to enter the lineup are Joe Lee at 165 pounds, Carter Starocci at 174, Michael Beard at 197 and Greg Kerkvliet at heavyweight.
“Their development has been great,” Brooks said about the freshmen in the room. “It’s crazy to see. It’s hard to see in yourself, whenever you develop, but it’s crazy to look at someone else. Watching them from when they first came in until now, it’s like ‘Man, they made those big jumps.’ It happens quick, but it is something that is very noticeable.”
Before the NCAA’s decision to make this season a “free year of eligibility,” Sanderson said they were planning to redshirt and Olympic redshirt everyone they could so they wouldn’t lose out on another chance at NCAAs, like the seniors did last year. Now that they don’t have to worry about that, Sanderson said every school should be wrestling “their best team.”
To him, that’ll make for one exciting season.
“I’m excited about this group. I think it’s a close group, with obviously a lot of talent,” he said. “We’ve got some new faces and what we’re trying to put together is that next wave that can roll through and come together. And I think we have the leaders and the talent needed, in addition to the mindset of a team that’s going to go out there and be entertaining to watch and that has the ability to score a lot of points.”
