How good are PSU Backup/Redshirts?

[buckshot]

3 hours ago, Threadkilla said:

Joe Sealey at 165, sounds like he;s ready to compete.  Cael said he is as advertised.  

Sealey lost a squeaker in TB 2-1 to Ferrari who everybody talks about as the next big thing. If you give me two guys who are basically equal in HS and one goes to PSU and the other to Iowa I'm taking the PSU guy to have a better career 10 out of 10.

[BruceyB]

8 minutes ago, buckshot said:

Sealey lost a squeaker in TB 2-1 to Ferrari who everybody talks about as the next big thing. If you give me two guys who are basically equal in HS and one goes to PSU and the other to Iowa I'm taking the PSU guy to have a better career 10 out of 10.

First step is making the lineup. Alex Facundo was #2 on Flo's 2021 Big Board and has yet to AA. Hamiti and Caliendo were both ranked lower coming out of high school. All three wrestled 165 at NCAAs in 2023, and only the guy who went to Penn State failed to place, and then hasn't been able to make the starting lineup since.  

So maybe take the guy from PSU 9 out of 10 times?

I don't see how Sealey makes the lineup next year. His best chance is if he can make 57 and beat Kasak, which is quite a feat, and it's not going to get any easier the following year.

[nhs67]

1 hour ago, buckshot said:

Sealey lost a squeaker in TB 2-1 to Ferrari who everybody talks about as the next big thing. If you give me two guys who are basically equal in HS and one goes to PSU and the other to Iowa I'm taking the PSU guy to have a better career 10 out of 10.

Was that before or after Ferrari absolutely destroyed him at WNO - under college rules?

[lu_alum]

When did Facundo get hurt? Has he wrestled since losing to Kasak at the Black Knight?


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[bnwtwg]

Nagao is done for the year unless Davis suffers a season-ending injury. God works in my$teriou$ way$ but the lord giveth and the lord taketh away (a starting spot)

[1032004]

27 minutes ago, lu_alum said:

Has he wrestled since losing to Kasak at the Black Knight?


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No

[lu_alum]

I’d be surprised if Nagao or Facundo wrestle again this season, especially Nagao.  I think they are both angling for a medical year.

This suggests Facundo may have justification for a medical year. I’m questioning the basis for such a move.


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[nhs67]

2 hours ago, lu_alum said:

When did Facundo get hurt? Has he wrestled since losing to Kasak at the Black Knight?


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Not sure when he got hurt, but his next sighting after the Kasak match had him in crutches.

[1032004]

Dodgeball injury maybe?

[fishbane]

1 hour ago, lu_alum said:

This suggests Facundo may have justification for a medical year. I’m questioning the basis for such a move.


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Here are Sanderson's comments on Facundo from mid December.  “He tweaked something,” Sanderson said. “It could be a few weeks to several weeks. I don’t think it’s [going to require] any kind of surgery or anything, but he probably won’t be on the mat for a couple weeks.”

[Fletcher]

Take away 184 to Hwt and there's not much there. Ryder has been underrated so far though.

[BruceyB]

27 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Take away 184 to Hwt and there's not much there. Ryder has been underrated so far though.

133 Nagao

157 Facundo/Sealey

165 Facundo/Sealey

That's 3 AA caliber guys that could step into the lineup if necessary excluding 184-285. The simple truth is that there is a good chance that Nagao is not the starter even if healthy, Facundo would likely to AA at this weight, and Sealey is a stud in RS that they don't need to use this year.

I am more often than not rooting for upsets over the nits, but I do so because they are just so loaded that it's not fun watching half the champions come from one room every year. I'm not going to do it now, and wrestlestat doesn't have enough data on the RS freshmen to accurately predict, but I bet if you did hypothetical matchups, the backups if healthy might still be a top 10 dual team in the country.. I said it before, it is truly an embarrassment of riches. 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

15 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

Yes their who's 1 match was maybe a major? the ironman match was a few months after Sealey seemed to figure out how to avoid getting leg passed which I believe resulted in two takedowns in the first match. Sealey also beat Messenbrink at super 32 which is kind of crazy to think about.

A lot of people beat Mesenbrink.  That was his junior year, right? After that Super 32 , he has maybe two domestic losses?  Carr and Burroughs?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

13 hours ago, buckshot said:

Sealey lost a squeaker in TB 2-1 to Ferrari who everybody talks about as the next big thing. If you give me two guys who are basically equal in HS and one goes to PSU and the other to Iowa I'm taking the PSU guy to have a better career 10 out of 10.

Spencer Lee, Nick Suriano, and Gavin Teasdale have entered the chat.

Edited yesterday at 01:15 PM by Interviewed_at_Weehawken

[Truzzcat]

18 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

A lot of people beat Mesenbrink.  That was his junior year, right? After that Super 32 , he has maybe two domestic losses?  Carr and Burroughs?

I believe it was his senior year because he took 7th at that super 32 lost to angelo and Sealey I remember thinking it was especially crazy because he went on to beat levi for the u20 spot and then levi would go on to make the national finals 2021 super 32.

edit that bracket was wild

Ruiz 1st
sealey 2nd
Ferrari 3rd
zack Ryder 5th
MM 7th

Edited yesterday at 01:33 PM by Truzzcat

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

4 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

I believe it was his senior year because he took 7th at that super 32 lost to angelo and Sealey I remember thinking it was especially crazy because he went on to beat levi for the u20 spot and then levi would go on to make the national finals 2021 super 32.

edit that bracket was wild

Ruiz 1st
sealey 2nd
Ferrari 3rd
zack Ryder 5th
MM 7th

Whatever the year was, MM cleaned up a couple things and went on the run that he is currently on.  Askren said MM was being a little stubborn, but became a bit more receptive to change after that performance.

[1032004]

9 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Take away 184 to Hwt and there's not much there. Ryder has been underrated so far though.

I mean you could say that about a lot of school’s A teams if you take away their 3 best guys.

Even still I’m not sure I agree:

PSU has 3 guys that could potentially AA at 197.

Evans has beaten an AA

Pierce just beat a former R16 guy

Sealey as discussed is very good

Matt Lee has a win over Julian Ramirez

McHenry could probably win a couple matches at NCAA’s

 

So basically, if you take away 3 guys (really 5 if we’re also not including Nagao or Facundo) from their B team, they could still potentially get 6 qualifiers and 1-2 AA’s…

[BarSeries]

17 hours ago, WrestlingRash said:

Wrestling should allow 2 per weight per school. Track and field, swimming and gymnastics do. Why not us?

Definitely. I want PSU to win by at least 200 points every year. 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

19 hours ago, WrestlingRash said:

where would their backups finish as a team at NCAAs?

Wrestling should allow 2 per weight per school. Track and field, swimming and gymnastics do. Why not us?

Because wrestling tournaments go by so quickly with only one entry per school?

[Pinnacle]

PSU needs to give the back ups some work Friday night because otherwise they might bonus every single Michigan State wrestler. Good thing there is some compelling football on ESPN that night. 

[Paul158]

20 hours ago, Threadkilla said:

Joe Sealey at 165, sounds like he;s ready to compete.  Cael said he is as advertised.  

What weight will he go. I thought he was a 165 pounder. Will he be able to make the line-up.

[fishbane]

17 minutes ago, Paul158 said:

What weight will he go. I thought he was a 165 pounder. Will he be able to make the line-up.

I don't think he will.  He's a blue chip, but since winning Cadet Worlds he really hasn't progressed at the rate of the other top PSU recruits.  He lost convincingly at Who's Number One?  to Ferrari and even though it was much closer the second time he wasn't really close to scoring on Ferrari. He also hasn't been all that close to making a Junior world team and PSU has a room full of guys 157lbs and up the have made junior world teams.

Next year the PSU roster 157lbs and up will look like this

157:  Kasak (NCAA 3rd, 2 years/1 redshirt left), Facundo (Made a junior world team, at least 2 years/0 redshirts left)

165: Mesenbrink (NCAA 2nd, Junior world champ, 2 years/0 redshirts left)

174: Levi Haines (NCAA Champ, lost to Mesenbrink in junior world trials finals, 1 year/1 redshirt left),

184: Zack Ryder (Junior world runner up, 4 years/0 redshirts left)

197: Josh Barr (Junior world runner up, 3 years/0 redshirts remaining), Connor Mirasola (Junior world 5th this year, qualified for the Olympic trials, 4 years/0 redshirts remaining)

Sealey's best chance is probably at 157lbs, but I wouldn't bet that he could make that.  Even in 2026-2027 I don't see how he makes the team.  Levi Haines is gone, but there is either a very good wrestler coming up (Facundo or Mesenbrink) or a very good wrestler coming down (Ryder?).  Josh Barr is a little undersized at 197 and purchased a cow in the offseason to try and bulk up. Maybe with Starocci gone he goes down to 184 if he considers that his best weight which in turn sends Ryder down.  I'm sure a lot of people would like to see Connor Mirasola in the lineup at 197.  He already has wins over NCAA Champs/AAs.  There will also be some recruits from the class of 2025 coming off redshirt.  PJ Duke (#2 Class of 2024, Junior World medalist) is likely a 157lber and William Henckel (#15 class of 2025, beat Sealey at junior world trials) could be a 174.  Where does Sealey make the lineup?

[1032004]

Bo Nickal almost lets it slip that Davis and Nagao had a wrestleoff then remembered he wasn’t supposed to say that since Nagao is “injured”

 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Honestly, Penn State's backups aren't that much better than the other top tier programs.  The gap between Penn State's starters and other team's starters is much larger than comparing their backups.

[1032004]

6 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Honestly, Penn State's backups aren't that much better than the other top tier programs.

Yes they are