Penn State wrestling staying ‘patient’ in figuring out its starting lineup for 2021-22
While wrestling fans on message boards and social media may be busy speculating about the Nittany Lions’ final lineup or how they’ll match up with top-ranked Iowa, Penn State’s coaching staff isn’t concerning itself with any of that just yet.
“I think if anything, our history has demonstrated that we’re patient,” associate head coach Cody Sanderson said Monday. “We don’t want to rush things. It’s November, the national tournament is in March. Of course, we’ve got some great competition in between there, but we let things kind of unfold, let guys have the opportunity to get out there and perform and see what they can do. And we really let these guys kind of sort it out themselves as much as we can.”
Besides its four returning national champs and All-American heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State had several newer faces in its lineup against Sacred Heart and Oregon State on Saturday. They included Penns Valley grad Baylor Shunk (125), Joey Blumer (157), Creighton Edsell (165) and Cornell transfer Max Dean (197).
And those wrestlers might not necessarily be the same ones who take the mat at 7 p.m. Thursday for Penn State’s dual meet against Army West Point at Rec Hall.
However, Sanderson did say he was pleased with several of the performances he saw at the Journeymen Duals, pointing out specifically Shunk (1-1) and Dean (2-0), who both got their first dual starts for Penn State.
“You never know, when a guy gets out there for the first time, in the singlet with the Penn State stripe, what they are going to do,” Sanderson said. “You saw those guys walk out there with pride and compete with pride and score points. It’s great to see; it’s what we hope for.”
While Dean got both starts on Saturday, head coach Cael Sanderson said last week that there would essentially be an open competition for the starting spot at 197 pounds between Dean and last year’s starter, All-American Michael Beard.
Dean, a two-time All American and 2019 national runner up, had an impressive debut as a Nittany Lion, going 2-0 with an 18-0 technical fall in three minutes and a 16-3 major decision. Beard, too, had a successful weekend, going 3-0 at 197 in the round robin-style Journeymen Collegiate Classic, held after Penn State’s duals on Sunday in Manheim. Highlighting Beard’s outing was a 14-6 major decision over Army West Point’s No. 20 J.T. Brown.
Cael Sanderson described the two wrestlers last week as “two of the best guys in the country.” While having two highly talented wrestlers at the same weight might seem like a problem to those on the outside, the coaching staff sees its team’s depth as a blessing — both for training and competition purposes.
“Clearly with wrestling, you have to have training partners,” Cody Sanderson said. “We need different looks, we need different feels, we need guys with different attack hands, we need guys with different lead legs. And from a competition standpoint, it’s a tough season, guys are going to get banged up, we’re going to get bruised up. We need to have a second, third option, potentially, as we get down into some of these matches, especially as we get going into January, February.”
Edsell is another wrestler seemingly competing for a starting spot. While the junior got both starts at 165 pounds on Saturday, going 2-0 including a major decision, true freshman Alex Facundo was also listed at that weight on Penn State’s prematch notes.
Having teammates competing against each other for the coveted starting positions might at times get a bit awkward, but Edsell said it hasn’t had a major impact on the atmosphere or cohesion of the wrestling room.
“Everybody gets along. It’s nothing really out of the ordinary,” Edsell said. “Wrestle-offs are a little weird, yes, just because you’re wrestling your own teammate, trying to compete for that spot. But at the end of the day, we’re grateful for each other to test our limits and get better every day.”
Cody Sanderson said he’s been impressed by the way some of the more experienced wrestlers in the room have stepped into leadership positions, encouraging and taking an interest in the development of some of those younger wrestlers. While he was at Binghamton on Sunday, watching several Nittany Lions compete in the Bearcat Open, the elder Sanderson said he noticed the wrestlers were getting text messages from the starters back at Penn State, encouraging them and giving advice.
In total, Penn State had seven wrestlers competing unattached at the event.
“It’s really great to see our older guys start to demonstrate their interest for the younger guys and their development,” Sanderson said. “Because that’s really what it takes. We help them as coaches, but it’s that peer development that really can separate it. And right now, we’ve got some guys on our team that are stepping up into leadership roles and are caring for those guys who are wrestling at other events. And I think it’s really going to help their long-term development, and it of course brings our team closer together, which is incredibly important.”
The most important thing for the younger wrestlers, according to Cody Sanderson, is just getting in more matches and figuring out different ways to win.
Thursday’s dual should provide another good opportunity for Penn State’s wrestlers to gain more of that valuable experience. Army West Point has wrestlers ranked at 141, 149, 157, 174, 197 pounds and at heavyweight, per InterMat.
And while fans are not likely to stop speculating about the lineup anytime soon, the coaching staff’s attention will be focused elsewhere, looking to build off Saturday’s performance.
“Overall, I think it was a positive showing by the team,” Cody Sanderson said. “There are some things that we look for initially, a lot of that has to do with conditioning, where are we physically coming into the event, and I think we’re right where we wanted to be. Technically, there are some adjustments to be made, but that’s also the point of some of these early season matches, see what we’re missing in practice, get back and address those.”
