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Wrestling With July: Cael Sanderson on Penn State's 2015 lineup possibilities.

Sup Party People! The basketbros have been killin July with such excellent Winter sport coverage that they've inspired a desire to talk a little wresting as well. Stepping right in is the Center County Gazette's Andy Elder who got hold of Cael Sanderson for some summertime talk and some killer quotes. He framed his article in a lineup shape; I'll do the same. As my Aussie mates say, let's get amongst it!

125

Since Brad Pataky limped through his last year of eligibility in 2011, this weight has been very ably manned by Nico Megaludis. He's scored 18, 18.5 & 15 points in the last three of Penn State's national championships. Nico's got one year of collegiate eligibility remaining, but Jordan Conaway has two. Coincidentally, Nico also has a collegiate redshirt yet available and is a strong candidate to qualify for an Olympic Redshirt. It's possible that Nico could redshirt the 2015 & 2016 tourney seasons, allowing Conaway to start here for those two tourneys, and then return for his final year of eligibility in the 2017 tourney season. So what's Cael got to say about it all?

"That's not 100 percent. We're not really sure what we're going to do with our lineup yet. We've talked with Nico about having him redshirt. We have Jordan Conaway that's right there, too. We love Conaway. We believe he would have been an All-American this year at 125 if he had had the opportunity. That's another reason it's been hard for us to pick up 125-pounders. We still have two years with those guys," Sanderson said.

"Nico has the opportunity to redshirt and even do an Olympic redshirt the year after. That would give Jordan two years at 125. There are options there. How hard is it to throw Nico Megaludis out there when you've got him? You want him out there wrestling for you. He's a rock. He's the leadoff guy and is so consistent. I've never seen him wrestle when he's not going 100 miles per hour. That's just how he is. What a great leadoff guy he's been for us."

There's no real hurry to make these decisions and it clearly sounds like they all will use all available time. Nico's wrestling a Senior-level tourney in Baku, Azerbaijan this week. How's his international Freestyle game? I'm guessing the stronger that it looks, the more likely Nico will take these two years of redshirting back to back. I'm certain we'll see Conaway start out the season in November & December, and would guess that any level of reasonable success there will mean he'll represent during the tourney season. I'll further guess that he can probably hang with any of the returning AA's behind top dogs Jesse Delgado & Nahshon Garrett and stand on the podium next March.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
125
1 Jesse Delgado (1) Jr Illinois CA 30-2 91-12
2 Nahshon Garrett (2) So Cornell CA 34-2 77-8
3 Nicholas Megaludis (3) Jr PSU PA 31-4 86-16
4 Joey Dance (16) Fr Va Tech VA 29-10 29-10
5 Cory Clark (8) Fr Iowa IA 22-4 22-4
6 Dylan Peters (5) Fr Northern Iowa IA 34-7 34-7
7 Darian Cruz (US)* Fr Lehigh PA 28-10 28-10
8 Earl Hall (US)* Fr Iowa State FL 21-15 21-15

133

Jimmy Gulibon's weight clears out the studs who have been dominating the past few years:

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
133
1 Tony Ramos (3) Sr Iowa IL 32-2 120-12
2 Tyler Graff (5) Sr Wisconsin CO 31-5 126-25
3 Joe Colon (1) Sr Northern Iowa IA 35-2 62-6
4 AJ Schopp (2) Jr Edinboro PA 35-3 107-14
5 David Thorn (8) Sr Minnesota MN 29-8 78-35
6 Mason Beckman (6) So Lehigh PA 28-6 55-17
7 Joe Roth (12) Sr Central Michigan IL 27-1 99-34
8 Cody Brewer (13) So Oklahoma MO 23-10 48-18

But Jimmy struggled with consistency at times in his first year as a starter. Here's Cael describing Jimmy last week:

"He wasn't at his best this year. He knows that, we know that. Anybody who was watching knows that. He has had a good spring. I think his confidence is getting back up to where it needs to be. He has wrestled well. He wrestled well at the University Games. He beat some good guys there. He's a guy who's in here training all the time, all summer. He's a guy you have to tell, 'All right, you need to go home.' He's gonna be fine," the coach said.

"He just has to get a good start. He had a rough start last November. The kid hasn't lost a whole lot of matches in his life, so that's part of it. We just have to make sure he's ready to go in November. If his weight's good and he's firing on all cylinders, he'll be tough to beat.

The more he wrestles and creates flurries, he's so fast, he's so good, he's so strong that he could be right there in the national championship hunt. He's so good that coming into last season I thought we had a for-sure All-American. I'm not taking anything away from him; that's just how good he is. We're very confident in him."

I'm glad to hear that. Gulibon getting closer to his potential can go a long way toward Penn State maintaining the championship streak.

141

Zain Retherford's final finish was a little disappointing, given the strength of his regular season, but his 12 points were more than Penn State's margin of victory and were, as such, vital to the fourpeat, as Cael notes:

"Zain's just what he is. He loves what he's doing. He's got a heart full of gratitude just to compete. To be there every day. Just a real sound mind. He's a competitor. He's mean. And he's still learning how to wrestle, how to score and attack on his feet," Sanderson said.

"He's a good one. We're excited about him. He did an amazing job. He steps in as a true freshman and helps us win the national tournament. Without him we weren't winning nationals this year."

"Zain's just what he is. He loves what he's doing. He's got a heart full of gratitude just to compete. To be there every day. Just a real sound mind. He's a competitor. He's mean. And he's still learning how to wrestle, how to score and attack on his feet," Sanderson said.

"He's a good one. We're excited about him. He did an amazing job. He steps in as a true freshman and helps us win the national tournament. Without him we weren't winning nationals this year."

I hope and am guessing that Zain does not use his redshirt this year and instead comes back to compete against the three returning studs at the top of the weight class. 3x Champ Logan Stieber already knows not to choose down against him, so all he needs is improvement on his feet, right? All four of the top guys are pretty far ahead from the Tier 2 guys at this weight:

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
141
1 Logan Stieber (2) Jr Ohio State OH 30-1 95-6
2 Devin Carter (4) Jr Virginia Tech VA 18-1 89-13
3 Mitchell Port (1) Jr Edinboro PA 32-1 96-15
4 Evan Henderson (9) Jr UNC PA 37-8 103-30
5 Zain Retherford (3) Fr Penn State PA 33-3 33-3
6 Joey Lazor (11) Sr Northern Iowa GA 20-7 86-38
7 Stephen Dutton III (13) Jr Michigan NY 13-6 55-27
8 Richard Durso (12) Jr F&M PA 37-6 106-27

149 & 157

The Alton brothers have had fairly miserable past two seasons, at times wrestling through their health issues and other times not. For Andrew, that manifested itself inside of one specific match, when he dominated eventual 3rd placer Eric Grajales for 4.5 minutes, but bowed out & totally shut down in the final 2.5. It was a pretty fascinating (and totally entertaining, it must be said!) match, but one which clearly showed the limitations these wrestlers face when trying to compete at levels so far below their 100%. So after the second shoulder surgery for each brother, Penn State fans are crossing their fingers for two healthy Alton bros to come out in this their last season. Let's check in on Cael's assessment of their recoveries from Surgery Two:

"I think we're going to find that out. I think the hunger is there. They were both wrestling so well, starting out their sophomore year. Dylan tore his shoulder in the All-Star match. He wrestled awesome in that match (against Jason Welch from Northwestern). I thought he controlled him. He looked great. When you're not healthy, your mind's not the same. You doubt yourself," Sanderson said.

"Andrew was wrestling very well, too, coming into that sophomore year. Coming into that year we thought he was amazing. He was so good. He hurt his ankle. He hurt his shoulder. He hasn't been healthy. Now he's going to be healthy. That gives him a chance to get everything else in line. It's up to him. Andrew's been cleared to go. Dylan's good to go. He's ready. He's a little bit behind. We have high hopes. We believe in those guys. We're excited to see them healthy. Hopefully, that gets everything else in line for them."

Most of the top guys at 149 return, along with title contender Hunter Stieber coming off redshirt. A healthy Andrew should be able to hang with all of them, but only time will really tell.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
149
1 Jason Tsirtsis (5) Fr Northwestern IN 32-3 32-3
2 Joshua Kindig (11) Jr Oklahoma State PA 24-9 66-29
3 Eric Grajales (9) Sr Michigan FL 26-11 102-48
4 David Habat (8) Jr Edinboro OH 32-6 98-23
5 Drake Houdashelt (1) Jr Missouri MO 38-3 97-22
6 Mitchell Minotti (15) Fr Lehigh PA 25-11 25-11
7 James English (US) Sr Penn State PA 16-7 60-22
8 Kendric Maple (4) Sr Oklahoma KS 25-7 127-25

Aside from Nebraska's James Green, who I expect will put on a domination clinic this whole season (and, hoo boy, keep an eye out for any rematches with Dylan Ness!), Dylan Alton's table doesn't look terribly daunting to a former 3rd place finisher. He did very nearly beat Ian Miller even with his bum shoulder last March and defending champ Dieringer is likely to be going 165 this year.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
157
1 Alex Dieringer (3) So Oklahom State WI 32-1 67-4
2 Dylan Ness (9) Jr Minnesota MN 23-6 67-23
3 James Green (1) Jr Nebraska NJ 35-2 94-17
4 Ian Miller (4) So Kent State OH 31-6
5 Derek St. John (2) Sr Iowa IA 30-6 106-17
6 Brian Realbuto (7) Fr Cornell NY 36-9 36-9
7 Isaac Jordan (5) Fr Wisconsin OH 31-7 31-7
8 Anthony Perrotti (US) So Rutgers NJ 22-15 40-29

165

New era time at this weight for PSU. Offseason lineup guesses had Chambersburg's (7174Lyfe!) Garett Hammond battling incoming freshman Shakur 'Corey' Rasheed for the starter role, but Cael put that ish to bed right quick:

"Right now, Hammond's pretty much our guy," Sanderson said. "We're spending some time with Hammond, getting him ready to go. He's good. He can win. He just needs to get that confidence. Don't wait around. You can wait your whole life for confidence."

Having not seen him since January 1st in the Southern Scuffle, who's to say at this juncture how good a fit Hammond will be. Sounds like they're still working on his confidence, which doesn't inspire much for we the fans, does it? Still, new blood--and 717 blood at that--could be exciting either way. While 5/8ths of last year's All-Americans clear out, Dieringer's bump up plus the new arrival of Ohio State super-recruit Bo Jordan makes this another really tough class at the very top.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
165
1 David Taylor (1) Sr PSU OH 34-0 134-3
2 Tyler Caldwell (2) Sr Oklahoma State KS 28-4 126-29
3 Steven Monk (4) Sr North Dakota St WI 36-2 101-22
4 Nicholas Sulzer (3) Jr Virginia OH 36-3 90-23
5 Michael Moreno (8) Jr Iowa State IA 31-9 66-32
6 Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (11) Sr The Citadel Mongolia 39-9 136-43
7 Daniel Zilverberg (15) Sr Minnesota MN 24-15 61-50
8 Pierce Harger (7) Jr Northwestern OH 29-10 77-34

174

Oh, man. Last chance for Hulk Hands the Stormin Mormon. Last year's Tier 1 cleared out, but this year's returning Tier 1, of which Matt Brown is clearly a part, will be studly again this year.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season
174
1 Chris Perry (1) Sr Oklahom State OK 30-1
2 Andrew Howe (2) Sr Oklahoma IN 28-2
3 Logan Storley (6) Jr Minnesota SD 35-6
4 Robert Kokesh (3) Jr Nebraska SD 37-3
5 Matt Brown (5) Jr PSU UT 33-6
6 Michael Evans (4) Jr Iowa PA 28-7
7 Tyler Wilps (7) Jr Pittsburgh PA 32-7
8 Bryce Hammond (US) So CSU-Bakersfield CA 24-11

For his part, it sounds like Cael continues to remind Brown of the need for an offensive mentality:

"I was really happy the way he finished. He's just got to keep wrestling. Guys don't want to go seven minutes with him. They slow him down. He just has to keep wrestling and score," Sanderson said.

"Brown's ready to go. He's having a good summer. He's just got to let it go. More like David and Ed. Those guys shoot how many times a match? That's what it takes. It's no secret. He's just a guy you want to see win. You want to see him leave here happy. He's gearing up to go for the gold now."

With Storley, Kokesh, Brown & Evans all in the Big Ten, this weight will be all fireworks once again. Good for us!

184

Here's another weight at which Penn State will be replacing a legend. And just like at 165, Cael last week was deliberate in praising the front-runner for starter, RSFR Matt McCutcheon:

"Phipps did a nice job this year. He just broke his hand and had a hard time getting back. He did a great job in the BJC match," the coach said.

"We really like McCutcheon. He's going to be really good for us. He's non-stop, loves to wrestle. Very confident. He hasn't, necessarily, had the success yet to where you're thinking, "Oh, wow, we've got Matt McCutcheon coming in.' But he's going to be really good. He's going to wrestle for seven minutes. The kid doesn't get tired. He doesn't look like much. He looks like he's small for the weight class, but he's a tough kid and we're excited about him."

Cornell's young stud Gabe Dean returns, as do some of the surprise 2014 AA's ODU's Dechow and the two brainiacs from the other Ivies:

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
184
1 Ed Ruth (2) Sr PSU PA 34-1 136-3
2 Jimmy Sheptock (1) Sr Maryland PA 32-1 105-17
3 Gabriel Dean (3) Fr Cornell MI 40-3 40-3
4 Jack Dechow (13) Fr Old Dominion IL 21-6 21-6
5 Kevin Steinhaus (7) Sr Minnesota MN 26-8 123-30
6 Lorenzo Thomas (11) Jr Penn PA 30-11 53-21
7 Jacob Swartz (6) Sr Boise State WA 17-3 91-30
8 Ophir Bernstein (12) Jr Brown TX 36-11 88-37

197

That Sanderson-Elder interview had the feel of more candor and straight talk than we may typically be used to hearing from Sanderson, and when they got to 197, he took it up another notch when addressing Morgan McIntosh's performance at Nationals:

"Morgan's got to just keep getting better and stay big. He's got the ability to win the weight class as well as anybody else. He's gotta go get it," Sanderson said.

"I think he was a little tentative this year. He lost a match he didn't need to lose in the second round against the kid from Virginia Tech.

He's going to be fine. He's a competitor."

In addition to returning 6/8ths of the 2014 AA's, including stud true sophomore J'Den Cox, Ohio State will be starting another super stud at this weight, World Junior Champion, Kyle Snyder. McIntosh will again have his hands full, but as Cael notes, he's going to be fine.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
197
1 J’Den Cox (2) Fr Missouri MO 38-2 38-2
2 Nick Heflin (1) Sr Ohio State OH 28-2 99-28
3 Scott Schiller (4) Jr Minnesota ND 34-5 89-15
4 Kyven Gadson (5) Jr Iowa State IA 30-4 60-10
5 Conner Hartman (US) So Duke WA 28-11 48-22
6 Chris Penny (14) Sr Va Tech VA 28-13 57-58
7 Morgan McIntosh (3) So PSU CA 32-5 50-15
8 Nathan Burak (11) So Iowa CO 19-8 40-25

Heavyweight

And if we thought that remark about McIntosh losing to Penny was candid, check out Cael's assessment of the Nittany Lions' heavyweight situation:

"We haven't seen a whole lot of work out of anyone at that weight in the offseason. Last year, no one was here. This year we really haven't seen anyone. We'll see. It's kind of up for grabs," Sanderson said, pointedly.

He went on to further describe the three-way tossup:

"It's kind of tough. You can only wrestle one guy. Hopefully one of them takes that role and steps and takes it. We want someone to claim it in November," the coach said.

"I think Lawson was making strides toward that on the national level. Lawson's first year through him out there, he still needed to re-learn how to wrestle. Lawson left football to come wrestle. We want the guy to be successful."

"Gingrich was a guy who came a long way. We watched him in his high school practice and decided not to recruit him. Then he said he wanted to come so we gave him a tryout and he came and he did a good job. Now he's a guy who's a potential All-American, who's beating All-Americans," Sanderson said.

"Ruggear the same thing. He's a great kid. He's been dealing with injuries to his neck and back. He didn't get to see a lot of action last year, but he's a potential All-American, too. He's just got to be healthy," he said.

Whoever ends up starting here, and I'd bet we'll see a fair bit of juggling ahead of the March tourneys, they'll be facing a lot of familiar foes: four returning All-Americans plus Michigan's stud sophomore, Adam Coon.

Place Firstname Lastname Seed Class Team HS State Season Career
285
1 Nick Gwiazdowski (2) So NC State NY 43-2 73-11
2 Tony Nelson (1) Sr Minnesota MN 30-5 128-16
3 Michael McMullan (6) Jr Northwestern PA 20-5 71-20
4 Bobby Telford (5) Jr Iowa DE 26-7 75-22
5 Mike McClure (7) Sr Michigan St MI 32-9 104-31
6 Adam Chalfant (3) Sr Indiana IN 28-6 79-30
7 Jeremy Johnson (10) Sr Ohio OH 41-5 144-36
8 Austin Marsden (11) So Oklahoma State IL 23-9 50-14

Some of the message boards have described Penn State's chances for a five-peat this coming year in golfing terms and suggest it's a long putt. Makeable, but long. There are still many months of lineup and tuneup workouts to sift through before all the lads begin turning it up for real, but here in the heat of July, it looks like it could be a very tight 5-team race between Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota, Cornell and Penn State.

This guy says, with this this lineup above, Penn State has as good a chance as anybody.

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