After capturing their 10th national title in the past 14 years, Cael Sanderson’s Penn State Nittany Lions will put together a better lineup for the 2023-2024 season, and it could potentially be one of the best teams in NCAA history.
In 2023, Penn State dominated the NCAA tournament, winning the team title by over 50 points, and had seven wrestlers finish in the top three.
Despite losing previous national champions Roman Bravo-Young and Max Dean, the Nittany Lions have struck gold in the transfer portal.
Recently, Penn State landed Bernie Truax, a 3x All-American who previously competed at Cal Poly. Truax will fill in for Dean, however, it’s unsure if that will be at 184-pounds or 197-pounds, as Aaron Brooks is considering going up in weight classes.
In addition to Truax, Penn State was able to get their hands on Mitchell Mesenbrink a transfer from Cal Baptist. Mesenbrink still has an Olympic redshirt available so who knows where he will fit into this lineup.
Just a couple weeks later, Penn State filled another big hole at 133 pounds. Minnesota’s Aaron Nagao, who just placed fifth at the 2023 national championships, announced he will commit to Penn State.
With Robert Howard returning to the lineup at 125 pounds, the 2023-2024 Penn State lineup seems to have zero holes, and could easily perform to be the best lineup ever put together.
Here’s a quick prediction to see how the lineup will look:
125: Robert Howard
We haven’t really seen much of Howard since 2021, with a couple injuries holding him back a lot Gary Steen was the guy for the Nittany Lions last season. If he is healthy Howard will most likely be the guy in the lineup and he should be able to fight for an All-American finish.
133: Aaron Nagao, 5th (2023)
Nagao had an incredible redshirt freshman season this past year for Minnesota with a 23-6 record making the big ten finals and securing an All-American finish placing 5th.
141: Beau Bartlett, 3rd (2023)
Bartlett moving down to 141 this past season seemed to be all he needed to elevate his game to the next level, he looked much better and powered to a 3rd place finish at the NCAA tournament.
149: Shayne Van Ness, 3rd (2023)
Van Ness was a newcomer in the lineup last season and was very impressive. Had some rough matches throughout the season but was able to put together a phenomenal national tournament securing a 3rd place finish. Look for him to be a title contender this next season.
157: Levi Haines, 2nd (2023)
The true freshman was incredible in his first year only dropping one match which happened to be the NCAA finals to Austin O’Connor. Otherwise, Haines was essentially perfect, with O’Connor out of the college scene Haines will be the clear favorite at 157 pounds.
165: Alex Facundo, Mitchell Mesenbrink
Facundo did not have the greatest performance at nationals going 0-2, but he is a phenomenal wrestler and we have seen that time and time again looking back at his win over 3x AA Cam Amine. He will look to get himself on the podium for the first time should he be the guy at 165.
Mesenbrink is very solid as well and coming in from Cal Baptist a lot of people don’t know what to expect but if he does get the spot he will immediately be a threat to All American.
174: Carter Starocci, 1st (2023)
Starocci has been a staple in the college wrestling scene since he won his 1st national title in 2021. He is the only wrestler who can win 5 national titles and will look to keep that dream alive as he chases his 4th next season.
184: Bernie Truax, 4th (2023 at 197)
Truax had a fantastic season for Cal Poly, as far as weight classes go you could either see him at 197 or 184 it just depends on how they work things out with the lineup. Expect him to be a threat to win the weight class no matter where he goes.
197: Aaron Brooks, 1st (2023 at 184)
Brooks is interchangeable with Truax as they could go whichever weight. Brooks won his 3rd national title last season in dominant fashion. He will be chasing his 4th this upcoming season alongside teammate Carter Starocci.
285: Greg Kerkvliet, 2nd (2023)
Kerkvliet has looked better and better every year, he lost in the national finals to Hodge trophy winner Mason Parris. He will be the number 1 ranked wrestler in the country next year.
