Penn State wrestling notebook: Aaron Nagao will go ‘this month,’ 125 & 165 open & more

Last season, Penn State wrestling fans watched in awe during the Big Ten Championships as Roman Bravo-Young was pushed to his limits against then-Minnesota’s Aaron Nagao.

The redshirt freshman came close to upsetting RBY in the 133-pound finals, but came up just short. He finished 22-6, and went on to be an All-American with a fifth-place finish for the Golden Gophers.

Fast forward to this season.

Nagao is now a Nittany Lion, and will look to fill the void left behind as Bravo-Young graduated last year.

But his start with Penn State didn’t go quite as planned. At the beginning of October, rumors swirled that Nagao suffered a knee injury that might force him off the mat for the year.

On Wednesday during the Nittany Lions’ first media availability of the season — just days before Sunday’s Journeymen Collegiate Classic in Bethlehem — coach Cael Sanderson confirmed that wasn’t the case.

“He’s not wrestling this weekend, but he will be wrestling this month. That rumor got out there six weeks late, so we were super proud of our guys,” Sanderson said. “People were concerned. We were getting calls. That’s the way it should be, what happens in our room, should stay in the room as far as those kind of things. I was proud of our guys, the parents and whoever else that is close to the program that just out of respect for individuals in the program (for not saying anything).”

Nagao was in agreement with his coach, later saying that he’ll be wrestling “this month.” He went on to say that recovery has been great.

This means that Penn State fans should get to see him on the mat in two weeks at the Black Knight Invitational, which is the only other action for this month.

125 & 165 open for business

The 125-pound weight class has been quite an issue for the Nittany Lions ever since Nick Suriano left the program after the 2016-2017 season.

It was a rotation of starters that included Devin Schnupp, George Carpenter and transfer Carson Kuhn. In the 2018-2019 season, a stellar lightweight from Iowa in Brody Teske was everyone’s hopes to break the “Suriano Curse.”

However, Teske was around for just one season, and transferred. The next year, Robert Howard was set to join the team as a freshman from New Jersey.

He went 7-6 as a true freshman, placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships to qualify for the NCAA Championships, but went 2-2. Over the last two seasons, Howard hasn’t been on the mat due to shoulder injuries.

He’s back now and ready to go.

“We’re all here to find our ceiling. I really haven’t been able to find mine, not really my fault,” Howard said. “But I’m just excited for the opportunity to find my potential. I’ve wrestled with all these guys from across the country in high school. I’ve beat a lot of them and lost to some of them. I’ve always just been looking forward to the challenge. I don’t expect it to be easy, but just really looking forward to the opportunity.”

Sanderson said Howard is one of a handful of Nittany Lions looking to snap the “Suriano Curse.” The others include Braeden Davis, Kurt McHenry, Gary Steen and Marco Vespa.

Sanderson mentioned that they’ll use the first month as always to “try to establish our lineup.” However, he had high praise for Howard.

“Robert looks great. He’s healthy and his weight is good. He’s ready to rock,” Sanderson said. “He’ll be competing this weekend. Robert is showing a lot of patience. He’s been hurt pretty much since he got here, but he’s a very talented kid. He’s worked really hard to get back to wrestle and he’s been looking great.”

As for 165 pounds, there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut favorite.

Incumbent Alex Facundo held down the starting role all last season, but with the addition of talented transfer Mitchell Mesenbrink, it might not be the same this year. Also, Matt Lee, who just placed second in the U23 Nationals last month, is at the weight, along with Terrell Barraclough, who bumped up a class.

“(1)65 is a deep weight class. We’ve got four really good guys in that weight area,” Sanderson said. “We’ll just let things play out and let guys compete.”

New rules, no problems

Eight years ago, the NCAA implemented the four-point nearfall rule and got rid of the three-point nearfall.

This year sees the three-point nearfall come back as well as takedowns now worth three points as opposed to two points.

So, how has Sanderson and Co. handled the rule changes?

They haven’t thought about them too much. The head coach is all in favor of the three point takedown, and said they had some inter squad matches last week, and the points flew on the board.

“We’re always just going to adjust to whatever the rules are. It’s something that we’re excited about,” he said. “We’re optimistic that kids will try to score more points. Traditionally, we’ve been very strong on our feet. I don’t think it really changes anything because it’s a two-way street. Their (opponents’) takedowns are worth three points too.”

Several wrestlers had an interesting take on the rule changes, too.

Mesenbrink said it won’t change his wrestling style because he loves to take people down. He felt that collecting technical falls won’t be easier, but quicker.

“I keep taking them down until they (officials) tell you not to stop I guess,” Levi Haines said with a laugh. “It doesn’t really change wrestling at the end of the day. I think it’s going to make the dominant guys more dominant.”

As for Howard, he thinks it’s good for his game and good for the sport.

“You see higher scores, more tech falls and all that stuff. I think it encourages the sport,” he said. “I think it encourages feet wrestling a lot because they’ve been making a lot of changes to top, adding the four point nearfall and three point nearfall this year, so I think this is good.”