Here’s 5 things we learned from Penn State wrestling’s debut vs. Indiana and Northwestern
Penn State wrestling finally made its long-awaited 2020-21 season debut on Saturday, earning wins over both Indiana and Northwestern.
The product on the mat wasn’t perfect, as the Nittany Lions suffered two top-10 losses en route to a closer-than-expected 24-15 win over Indiana before putting away Northwestern 29-13. But there were still plenty of highlights.
Here’s five things we learned from Penn State’s debut:
1. Hey, wrestling’s back. Enjoy it
After a nearly 11-month layoff, it was just exciting to see the Nittany Lions hit the mat again. As Penn State fans may know better than most, watching their team get the chance to compete shouldn’t be taken for granted, because, as coach Cael Sanderson said last week, “a match could be closed down at any time.”
While Sanderson said the COVID “wave” has mostly made its way through his team, Penn State can’t control what happens with its opponents. So the Nittany Lions are making the most out of each of their opportunities.
“It is just great to compete. We didn’t wrestle off the charts,” Sanderson told the Penn State Sports Network on Saturday. “Our job is to just get better every week. I think we’ll do that. I’m excited about the challenge of this year. Hopefully, we can start building from here.”
Especially during this condensed season — with just over a month left until the postseason — fans shouldn’t let themselves become too preoccupied with records or rankings, and just have fun watching college wrestling.
Penn State wrestling is back.
Enjoy it.
2. Get used to seeing a lot of different faces in Penn State’s lineup
With all the challenges of this season, also comes opportunity.
Because student-athletes won’t use a year of eligibility this season, whether they compete or not, and with the addition of extra matches in each dual, a lot more Nittany Lions are going to have a chance to compete.
In all, 17 different Nittany Lions competed on Saturday between both duals. Of those 17, five were making their starting lineup debuts for Penn State.
The only weight where Penn State did not have a wrestler was at 125 pounds. While neither true freshman Robbie Howard nor redshirt freshman Baylor Shunk were cleared for competition this week, Jeff Byers, of the Penn State Sports Network, did say that Howard traveled with the team. Teams are allowed to travel 20 wrestlers this season to tri-meets.
Two wrestlers getting their first starts for the Nittany Lions on Saturday were Levko Higgins, a recent transfer from Penn State-Behrend, and redshirt freshman Donovon Ball, who were filling in at 197 pounds for presumptive starter Michael Beard, who was also not cleared to wrestle this week.
While both dropped their matches, Higgins got a late takedown to ward off the major decision, leaving teammate Seth Nevills in much less of a precarious situation to secure the win for the Nittany Lions at heavyweight against Indiana. And Ball, wrestling up a weight, put up a tough fight against the nation’s 11th-ranked 197-pounder Lucas Davison of Northwestern, ending in a 12-3 major decision.
“If somebody’s in the program and they’re working hard, generally they get a shot once or twice,” Sanderson told PSSN after the duals.“Ball figured some stuff out during that match. He was wrestling up a weight against a really tough kid. I think it was a really good experience for him, and saved a point or two on the team score there, potentially.”
3. Penn State has a lot to figure out in its lineup in little time
With all the new faces this year comes uncertainty, and Penn State has plenty it needs to figure out about its lineup by March.
Besides 125 pounds, where Penn State has yet to have a wrestler compete, its most obvious question mark is at 149.
The Nittany Lions split starts at that weight between junior No. 10 Jarod Verkleeren and redshirt freshman Terrell Barraclough, and both lost tight matches. Verkleeren, the starter for most of the season last year, fell 4-3 to Indiana’s Graham Rooks, and Barraclough dropped a 3-2 decision to Northwestern’s No. 20 Yahya Thomas.
“I thought in the first match Verkleeren did some really good things, and he was so close to scoring a few times,” Sanderson told the PSSN. “He just needed to put the nail in the coffin when he’s deep in on a shot. We just want to give these guys a chance to work it out. We need to score points at (1)49.”
Meanwhile, in extra matches, senior Luke Gardner pinned Indiana’s Jonathan Kervin in 56 seconds, and earned a technical fall in seven minutes of wrestling against Northwestern’s Jamie Berg. Barraclough also beat Kervin by an 8-0 major decision. At 141 pounds, true freshman Beau Bartlett went 3-0, with a pin of Indiana’s Jacob Moran in 1:48, an 8-4 decision over Northwestern’s Colin Valdiviez and a 10-4 decision over the Wildcats’ Justin Benjamin.
While Byers said on the broadcast that Bartlett is undersized, he could potentially make the decision to bump up to 149, if he is unable to beat out three-time All-American Nick Lee for the starting spot at 141 pounds.
Penn State also has senior Bo Pipher, who dropped a 6-2 decision in his lone bout on Saturday, in the mix.
While this situation is sure to cause plenty of headaches for the Penn State coaching staff in the coming weeks, it should be fun for fans as they watch these wrestlers battle each other out for the chance to represent the Nittany Lions in the postseason.
4. Penn State is quickly making up for lost time
Despite missing its first two weeks of competition, Penn State is already making good progress in getting its wrestlers the four matches they need to be eligible for the postseason.
Bartlett needs just one more match to qualify after wrestling in three of the extra matches. Like Bartlett, both 165-pound sophomore Konner Kraeszig and 174-pound sophomore Creighton Edsell also went 3-0 in extra matches, and sit just one bout away from postseason eligibility.
Redshirt freshman Carter Starocci also has three matches under his belt, going 2-1 with two starts and an extra bout.
Most of the other wrestlers who competed Saturday — Roman Bravo-Young, Nick Lee, Joe Lee, Aaron Brooks, Brady Berge, Nevills, Gardner and Barraclough — are halfway there.
For Penn State this season, the strategy is to get as many wrestlers to four matches as quickly as possible while still winning dual meets.
“The guys that have the best chance of starting and going to the Big Ten are the ones that we need to get to four matches,” Sanderson said last week. “And then there’s another layer. Any of the kids who have not gotten COVID yet, they need to get to four, just in case they were to get sick or something. And, of course, we want to win dual meets and compete well as a team and represent Penn State. So there’s a lot of different things at stake.”
This week has shown that because of this season’s format with tri-meets and extra matches, it’s easier to make up for lost time and get wrestlers to that magic number of four bouts.
5. No need to adjust expectations for Carter Starocci
The similarities between Starocci and his predecessor at 174 pounds, Mark Hall, grew on Saturday as the redshirt freshman took an unexpected 10-9 loss in his much-anticipated starting lineup debut.
The Erie Cathedral Prep alum nearly dug himself out of a 10-1 first-period hole, but couldn’t quite close it out, falling to Indiana’s Donnell Washington.
But just like with Hall, Sanderson didn’t seem too concerned by the loss.
“Carter is really, really good,” Sanderson told the PSSN after Saturday’s duals. “He’s a guy that over-trains — consistently — and we have to tell him, ‘Hey, dude, you actually have to leave the wrestling room now.’ He’ll figure it out, and he’s going to be right in there. I’m excited to see him moving forward here.”
Despite being thrown to his back early, Starocci kept his composure, going to work on erasing the deficit. While he wasn’t able to close the deal, the effort showed guts. He then closed his day with a 4-1 win over Northwestern’s Troy Fisher, notching his first dual meet takedown.
While his debut might not have been what many expected it to be, Sanderson assured fans there’s no need to adjust their high expectations.
“Sometimes a loss can be a blessing,” Sanderson said. “I think he’s going to have a great year and a great career.”
