Penn State wrestling’s Tyler Kasak, Braeden Davis turning heads while filling voids in lineup

Penn State wrestling’s Levi Haines had quite the true freshman campaign last year.

It was about this time last season when he became the Nittany Lions’ full-time starter at 157 pounds.

Fast forward to this year, where Haines’ teammates Braeden Davis and Tyler Kasak are in the same situation. The true freshmen are slated to get their first taste of Big Ten action Sunday when Penn State hosts Indiana at 1 p.m. in Rec Hall.

“I think they’re both doing a great job. Sometimes it can be hard being younger and new to that atmosphere, both of them are doing a good job. They’re going out there and letting it fly,” Haines said on Tuesday.

Beau Bartlett added: “Those guys are stepping up and they compete. They wrestle really hard. They know how to get their hands raised. I think the future is bright with all those guys in there and right now is bright for them too.”

Davis has seen more action than Kasak so far this year, racking up a 9-0 record. His most recent win came over then-No. 15 Brandon Kaylor of Oregon State.

It was a bout where Davis came out firing off several double leg takedowns. He kept attacking and nearly had a bonus-point victory over the ranked wrestler, but settled with an 11-6 win.

“Davis, we saw him get three takedowns and get a lot of riding time. We saw him look for opportunities to score, which are things we look at,” Nittany Lions associate head coach Cody Sanderson said Tuesday. “Down at the end, I think he got a little bit excited and was thinking a little more about winning then finishing out, but that was a great lesson for him. Those are the kinds of things we want someone like that to experience.”

Kasak is 5-1 on the year. His loss came to Bartlett, 4-1, in the 141-pound finals of the Black Knight Invite in November. In that same tournament, Kasak edged fellow 149-pound teammate David Evans, 3-2 in tiebreakers, in the semifinals.

He enters the dual against Indiana with an upset over then-No. 12 Nash Singleton, 4-1. Kasak used a takedown with 30 seconds remaining in the third period for the winning score against Singleton.

“Kasak ended up needing to go get a takedown and finish on top, which is what we like to see also. We had a little bit of a break in there, where he came over when he was on top, and we gave him specific instructions,” Sanderson said. “He went right out, followed them and finished right where he needed to be. That’s another thing we look at for young guys, if we get that opportunity to communicate with them during the match, do they know what’s going on? Can they listen and then go apply it? He was able to do that.”

Sanderson went on to say that he was glad his freshmen were able to get those types of opponents because it allows the coaching staff to see where their guys are at against some of the best in the nation.

Even with success from both wrestlers, Penn State seems non-committal to those guys being the full-time starter the rest of the year. As a staff they are staying patient, Sanderson said, and letting things “play out as long as as we can.”

Sanderson did admit that Davis has provided a spark at 125, which is something that has been lacking for quite some time for the Nittany Lions’ lineup.

“He’s excited to be out there. He’s a true freshman and all of a sudden competing with a guy that’s ranked pretty high in the country,” Sanderson explained. “It’s nice to have him coming off the mat excited ... that energy and emotion carries on to the rest of the guys.”

When it comes to Kasak, Sanderson praised how he wrestled that third period against Singleton, but they are looking for more points from him.

Nevertheless, as much as the wrestlers are ready to get Big Ten action underway, so are the coaches.

“The Big Ten season is one of the best competitive seasons maybe of any sport in the country at the college level. Big Ten wrestling, it just doesn’t really get better than that,” Sanderson said. “If you love to compete, you wrestle in the Big Ten and you’re getting ready for this competition. We’re excited.

“You see it brings the best out of the best competitors. It’s not for everybody. There’s some guys that might need to wrestle in a different conference, but we like to find the guys that like that challenge.”

No. 21 Indiana (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) at No. 1 Penn State (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Rec Hall

Radio: WOWY (103.1 FM)

Online: Radio, Lionvision at GoPSUsports.com; Big Ten+

X: @byncobler, @pennstatewrest

Note: Indiana lost to Rutgers, 30-11, on Friday night