McCutcheon’s injury not as bad as feared for Penn State

It is always hard to see someone go down with an injury.

It makes things even worse not knowing how severe the injury could be.

During Penn State’s 30-15 win over Illinois on Sunday, Matt McCutcheon was trying to fight off a takedown attempt by the Fighting Illini’s Jeff Koepke.

Koepke had ahold of McCutcheon’s left leg and had it hoisted in the air. Koepke went to trip McCutcheon’s other leg and bring him to the mat. Koepke was able to score the takedown but in the motion McCutcheon’s left leg was shifted awkwardly, and the match came to a halt.

McCutcheon lay on the mat screaming in pain while holding his left knee.

“We thought he was in trouble,” Nittany Lions coach Cael Sanderson said on Tuesday. “Obviously, it looked bad. It looked like it was a good chance that he was done for the year.”

Sanderson’s mind was put at ease after an MRI was done on McCutcheon’s knee.

“He’s questionable for this week,” said Sanderson, whose team hosts Michigan at 2 p.m. Sunday. “We believe he will be back real soon. Nothing is torn, so just a little bit of time and he will be back.”

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for McCutcheon.

The sophomore was returning from his second bout with back spasms, which flared up in the Southern Scuffle. He returned to the starting lineup with an electrifying 8-7 win over then-No. 5 T.J. Dudley, of Nebraska. He used two late-third-period takedowns to capture the victory.

McCutcheon was having a good start to the year until he suffered his first loss of the season in the third round of the Nittany Lion Open. Some back spasms led him to fall to North Carolina State’s Michael Macchiavello.

He recovered quickly to wrestle in Penn State’s matchup with Wisconsin the following weekend. He continued to wrestle and faced off with Macchiavello again in the third round of the Southern Scuffle. The back spasms again flared up and McCutcheon couldn’t continue.

Who will fill McCutcheon’s absence?

The Nittany Lions have used Devon Van Cura and Brian Brill this season. The pair filled in for McCutcheon in Penn State’s matches with Indiana and Purdue, which followed the Southern Scuffle. Also, according to Sanderson, there is a possibility a lighter weight wrestler could move up.

“Van Cura wrestled a couple weeks ago but he wrestled up,” Sanderson said when asked about the void. “We’re looking at one of our (1)65-pounders. (Garett) Hammond is not a big 65 pounder but both Geno (Morelli) and Shakur (Rasheed) are big 65 pounders and we have Brill. So, we have some guys that can compete for us this weekend. We aren’t sure who that will be right now.”

Award-winning pin

Thanks to his efforts in the Nittany Lions’ win over Illinois, Jason Nolf was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Tuesday.

He joins Bo Nickal and Zain Retherford as the other Lion winners of the award this year.

The redshirt freshman stunned the NCAA wrestling world when he pinned then-No. 1 Isaiah Martinez, the defending 157-pound NCAA champion. It was also Martinez’s first collegiate loss, ending his 54-match win streak.

“I think we expected him to win,” Sanderson said. “I know maybe that’s kind of a bold thing to say but Jason is very unique. He is fearless and confident. He’s a guy that loves to compete and doesn’t get tired.”

Not only was Nolf honored by the Big Ten, but he also was named USA Wrestling’s Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.

“It was awesome,” Nolf said of the win over Martinez. “I felt the energy as soon as I stepped on the mat. I could feel the crowd going crazy because they knew it was going to be a good matchup.”

Welcome to the party

With his win, Nolf joined three other Penn State wrestlers at the top of their weight classes as InterMat released its individual rankings on Tuesday.

Retherford (141), Nickal (174) and Morgan McIntosh (197) also were named No. 1.

The Nittany Lions have nine wrestlers ranked, with six of them in the top five of their classes.

Nico Megaludis (125, No. 4) and Jordan Conaway (133, No. 5) joined the four No. 1’s in the top five.

McCutcheon (184, No. 9), Jimmy Gulibon (141, No. 14) and Shakur Rasheed (165, No. 17) round out the ranked wrestlers for Penn State.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 7:49 PM with the headline "McCutcheon’s injury not as bad as feared for Penn State."