Humbled Morgan McIntosh set to return to West Coast with teammates

Penn State wrestling fans know Morgan McIntosh on the college mat.

But, how about the high school mat?

Jacob Harman, who was McIntosh’s assistant coach at Calvary Chapel High School, knows McIntosh has come a long way since he began.

“He wanted to be a John Smith type of wrestling style,” Harman said. “He thought he was mister slick fast guy but he had really heavy feet. I told him, ‘Hey bud, you’re not going to be mister outside low single guy. You’re a strong dude.’ So, we got him on riding wrists and putting the weight on people. After he really embraced the style, the sky was the limit.”

McIntosh collected three consecutive California Interscholastic Federation titles after “embracing the style.” He amassed an 189-5 record with those five losses coming in his freshman season. Of those 189 wins, 128 were pins.

“He set a goal in the offseason of his sophomore year to never be scored on offensively,” Harman explained. “He was never scored on offensively from his sophomore through senior year. To be honest, I think he even counted in practices and he never got scored on there either.”

McIntosh also collected some high honors during his high school career. He was named the National High School Wrestler of the Year by Intermat in 2011. In that same year, he was awarded the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award. The award is named in honor of Olympic and world champion Dave Schultz. A wrestler from each state is chosen as a finalist based on excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, character, citizenship and community service. Another well-known Penn State wrestler, David Taylor, won the award in 2009.

Harman has been around the Calvary Chapel program for 17 years and feels that he may never see another wrestler like McIntosh.

“I would love to think that there is going to be more Morgan McIntoshs in the future,” Harman said. “I honestly think he might be a once in a lifetime kid for me as far as a coach goes.”

Not only is McIntosh a champion on the mat but he is a champion off it.

Harman recollected about a time when he and McIntosh traveled to the Samoan Islands in 2009 after the islands were battered by tsunamis.

McIntosh wanted to go there and help rebuild. So, the pair traveled there during Christmas break and got to work.

At the time though, McIntosh was recovering from a torn labrum. They were clearing up the area and rebuilding houses that were destroyed. There were babies playing while the people were working. As McIntosh and Harman were working, they heard bells going off.

They were tsunami warning bells.

Harman said they looked out to the ocean and it was retreating hundreds of yards. That is usually the first sign that a tsunami is set to strike.

“When we saw what was going on,” Harman said, “everyone started sprinting as fast as they could to the top of the mountain to get to safe land. Morgan dropped the tools he was carrying and started picking up babies. He carried like four babies in his arms and was running up to the top of the mountain as fast as he could with tears in his eyes trying to save these kids’ lives.”

Harman also mentioned a time McIntosh came to a youth practice after capturing a state title.

“Monday after he won the state championship,” Harman explained. “He came right in here and coached the little kids practice. Here is the state champion that was the hero of the entire state of California. He made it a point to come teach little 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds their high crotch and all these things. He is just a humble servant and an awesome leader.”

The Nittany Lion senior is coming off a year in which he placed third at the NCAA Championships. He is listed as the favorite to win it all in his final season.

This weekend, he gets an opportunity to return to his home state and compete collegiately.

“It’s really cool,” McIntosh said of the trip. “I’ve been excited about this one for a long time. I know everybody back home, my family is real grateful for it. It’s cool for my friends and other family who never get to come out and see our matches.”

Penn State faces Cal State-Bakersfield in its West Coast opener. The school is in southern California and is situated three hours north of McIntosh’s hometown of Santa Ana.

“I want to thank the coaches for putting this whole thing together,” McIntosh said. “When I was getting recruited, Coach Cael told me we would wrestle out there at some point. I’m glad they made it happen.”

McIntosh’s mother, Rebecca, and father, Brooke, are just as excited about the moment as he is.

“Finally,” Brooke exclaimed with a laugh. “It is a celebration. We’ve had so many friends out here that have been asking us for years, ‘When can we see him?’ My family is dispersed across the country so some of them have been able to see him. I do have one sister here in the Bay Area where this will be the first time she gets to see him.”

Rebecca added: “He’s got a pretty wide California fan base just from wrestling here so many years. Everybody is pretty excited about getting the chance to see him.”

Morgan is the youngest of five McIntosh children. So, for Rebecca to see her baby boy leave for the East Coast was difficult but she was at peace with it.

“It was really hard,” she said. “We always knew there was a plan, whether it was God’s plan or Morgan’s plan. But I knew once he went to Penn State and met the coaches, he came back and said that’s the place. We went and visited later on. We agreed between the group of guys like Cody and Cael (Sanderson). For me, I just felt like that was where he was supposed to be.

“We are just really grateful and excited that he’s had the opportunity to spend the last five years at Penn State. We look forward to seeing what he’s going to do afterward.”

Fans will have to wait a while on Friday if they want to catch the Nittany Lions square off with the Roadrunners. The match is slated to start at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

McIntosh has good ties with most of the CS-Bakersfield wrestlers. However, two wrestlers in general he knows a lot about.

“The (Coleman and Bryce) Hammonds,” McIntosh said of his connections. “I’ve always been good friends with the Hammonds. I know Bryce is their 174 pounder. They are good family friends. It will be good to see them and compete against his team. It will be a good little rivalry but really nice to just see him and his family again.”

Sunday is a little easier on fans as Penn State and Stanford is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. EST. It will be the first time that the Nittany Lions and Cardinal meet in the programs’ histories.

“I think there are some good individual matchups,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “We’re trying to make progress and make sure we’re better each week. Wrestling with the attitude that we’re wrestling for bonus points. If we do that, the individual matchups aren’t as important.

“I’m not a coach that over analyzes individual matchups,” Sanderson added. “We want to know what our opponents’ strengths and tendencies are. But, we want to go do what we do because that’s how were going to learn and go forward.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Humbled Morgan McIntosh set to return to West Coast with teammates."