Penn State has suffered a lot at the 125 pound weight class since Nico Megaludis graduated. They had the spot filled with Nick Suriano for a bit until he suffered an ankle injury and decided that he was going to transfer to Rutgers where he won a National Title in 2019 up at 133lbs.
Drew Hildebrandt seems to be the replacement for Robert Howard who was the guy at 125 last season but is still coming back from surgery after suffering a shoulder injury. Hildebrandt is a transfer from Central Michigan and throughout his career at CMU he had compiled a 105-41 career record. Crazy enough even with this record he was never able to even qualify for the NCAA Tournament until 2021. Last season he was one of the best in the country with a 31-3 record and he is definitely a great pickup for Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions for this season.
As far as the outlook for Drew Hildebrandt goes who knows how good he can be this season. Obviously it goes without saying that the top 3 in this weight class are pretty sealed off with Spencer Lee, Vito Arujau, and Pat Glory unless something big should happen. However with Cael Sanderson who knows if maybe he could break the bracket here and possibly take out Vito or Glory and make the National Finals against Spencer Lee. He took 4th in the country last year but Glory, and Vito did not partake due to Ivy League Schools still not having wrestling. This will be a huge year for him and Penn State to possibly get back that team title from Iowa.
Drew Hildebrandt obviously has ties with Penn State already due to his sister Sarah already being a World and Olympic team member while training under the NLWC who is now coached by Jake Varner. This may have just made it easier for Cael Sanderson to bring in a highly ranked and talented 125 pound wrestler, and now as siblings they will be essentially training in the same exact room which is awesome.
