Oh, Hello: Wrestling Edition (Times Two!)

Cael Sanderson and the Penn State Wrestling program have really taken to this winning thing, and now more than ever it appears there’s no end in sight. Somewhere in the chaos that was Penn State football beating Ohio State on Saturday, Sanderson and the wrestling team picked up two massive commitments from 2018 prospects Travis Wittlake and Roman Bravo-Young. Wittlake and Bravo-Young (henceforth referred to as RBY) were Cadet World Team members this past year and are ranked fourth and fifth respectively by Flowrestling for the Class of 2018.

Travis Wittlake (Coosbray High School/Oregon)

Wittlake, a 2016 Cadet Bronze Medalist at 76 kilograms (167.5 pounds), has long been considered a Penn State lean. An Oregon product, the high school junior was a Triple Crown Champion in July at Cadet Nationals. Wittlake won the Greco-Roman tournament, the Freestyle tournament, and was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

Given Wittlake’s frame, it’s likely he projects to the 174 or 184-pound weight class in college. His timeline would set him up perfectly to slot in at 184 pounds for current Penn State stud Bo Nickal following a redshirt year in 2018-2019.

(Watch Wittlake become a 2016 national freestyle champion at 170 pounds via USAWrestling and YouTube.com)

Roman Bravo-Young (Sunnyside High School/Arizona)

There was concern among some (read: me) that Penn State may have an issue filling the 125-pound weight class in coming years should super stud Nick Suriano have trouble holding the weight and have to bump to 133 at some point. Consider those concerns quashed.

RBY is nothing short of a stud. Already a two-time state champion in Arizona, he added “Cadet World Team” member to his resume this past year at 54 kilograms (119 pounds). A good athlete with outstanding hips, RBY almost certainly projects to 125 pounds in college for at least the first couple years of his career.

(Watch RBY take out Ohio stud and Flowrestling “Who’s Number One” winner Jordan Decatur at the 2016 Cadet Freestyle Nationals. Video via USAWrestling and YouTube.com)

Wittlake and RBY join 10th-ranked Joe Lee (younger brother of 2017 commit, Nick Lee) to give PSU three commitments in the top ten for the class of the 2018. With PSU just taking Lee (for now) in 2017, the 2018 class is expected to be loaded for Sanderson and Co. In addition to RBY, Wittlake and Lee, Penn State is considered to be among the favorites for slew a top-25 prospects on Flo’s 2018 Big Board.

(Bonus: For Flo subscribers, check out RBY and Wittlake discussing their commitments with Ryan Holmes.)