It was a good, but not great year. It sounds crazy to say this when Penn State broke the team points record (yet again) and crowned 4 individual champions. That said, they left a lot of points on the table and could have had 6 champs. You have to feel very bad for guys like Van Ness and Welsh who have both been so close to the top yet haven't been able to get it done. Here is my weight by weight analysis of the wrestlers and how they can improve.
125 Lilledahl - Luke has improved greatly and he really doesn't have many weaknesses. He's obviously elite from neutral and has become much more judicious in how he attacks. He's also gotten much better at scrambling and defending against scrambles. I would say the one weakness is he doesn't have much of a top game. I don't believe he had any falls this year and I don't really recall him scoring many back points either. This is the one area he could make a lot of improvement in.
133 Blaze - Marcus has skill and speed. He also isn't much of a rider and at times has struggled to get out on bottom versus elite guys like Davino and Seidel. I think the biggest issue for Marcus is strength. He's certainly not a big 133 pounder so I think adding some power would help him greatly. He also needs to open up his leg attacks more against elite guys instead of trying to snap and run around. It just doesn't work against top guys.
141 Davis - Braeden wasn't supposed to start this year so his poor performance was a bit expected. His biggest weakness in prior years was an uncanny overconfidence in his scrambling ability (i.e. he would often put himself in horrible positions thinking he could scramble out of it when he should have just bailed). Davis is still not great at scrambling but his biggest problem this year was his gas tank. He could come out blazing for 3 minutes (see his first match against Brock Hardy where he scored 2 first period takedowns) and then fall over exhausted for the rest of the match. I truly believe Davis never fully got in match shape at 141. Let him redshirt for real next year and hopefully he can get in full match shape. If he does that and avoids scrambling I think he can All-American again.
149 SVN - My heart breaks for Shayne. He was so fun to watch this year with his reckless style. However, this was also his greatest weakness. I'd say in 4-5 matches this year he gave up to first takedown and had to rally back to win. Against a guy like Valencia who was just as aggressive this did not work. Shayne's baseline defense needs work. I get his pressure with stalking forward constantly beats most guys but it also leaves him vulnerable to attack, which is what was his demise in the finals.
157 Duke - Duke got hosed versus Robideau. That said, his biggest weakness I think was his pacing and gas tank in just a few matches. In his first match against Antrell his pace was way too high which led to him gassing out. I think he just needs to wrestle a bit more tactical against top guys and he will become a champion. Honestly, I think had the cradle versus Robideau been called correctly Duke would have beaten Taylor in the finals.
165 Mesenbrink - Hard to point to any weakness here other than Hepner was able to make life difficult with his scrambling ability. Maybe a weakness is his overconfidence in his singing ability?
174 Haines - What a career for Levi. Also hard to find a weakness here. He wrestled judiciously against Minto - perhaps he could have attacked a bit more? Crazy that Levi didn't even redshirt - 4 straight years and done, so rare now.
184 Welsh - McEnelly was always a coinflip match. Hard to find a weakness other than maybe he should have been a bit more aggressive early in the match. Feel for Rocco, since he actually was much more offensive this year than at Ohio State. 184 was just a minefield.
197 Barr - Not much to say here. He was the best guy here by far. He wrestled Merill a bit more tactically than perhaps he had to. I think he could have pushed for the major if he really wanted to.
285 Mirasola - Cole is just too small. 6'0 220 doesn't work at the D-1 level unless you are Kyle Snyder. Cole's problems all stem from being undersized and underpowered. He can get to legs on anyone but can't finish on the big guys. He also can't ride or get out from bottom. He has the skills, but not the size. Can he put on 20-25 pounds of good weight in 1 season? It's doubtful since he is small framed for a heavy. I think both Mirasolas could be elite at 197 though.
Overall the team's most common weakness is tactical - match pacing and strategy. I'm sure Cael and staff will work on this. I expect Penn State to win next year but 2027-2028 will be a bona fide battle. Ok State very well could win it all with their super freshman and incoming talent.
125 Lilledahl - Luke has improved greatly and he really doesn't have many weaknesses. He's obviously elite from neutral and has become much more judicious in how he attacks. He's also gotten much better at scrambling and defending against scrambles. I would say the one weakness is he doesn't have much of a top game. I don't believe he had any falls this year and I don't really recall him scoring many back points either. This is the one area he could make a lot of improvement in.
133 Blaze - Marcus has skill and speed. He also isn't much of a rider and at times has struggled to get out on bottom versus elite guys like Davino and Seidel. I think the biggest issue for Marcus is strength. He's certainly not a big 133 pounder so I think adding some power would help him greatly. He also needs to open up his leg attacks more against elite guys instead of trying to snap and run around. It just doesn't work against top guys.
141 Davis - Braeden wasn't supposed to start this year so his poor performance was a bit expected. His biggest weakness in prior years was an uncanny overconfidence in his scrambling ability (i.e. he would often put himself in horrible positions thinking he could scramble out of it when he should have just bailed). Davis is still not great at scrambling but his biggest problem this year was his gas tank. He could come out blazing for 3 minutes (see his first match against Brock Hardy where he scored 2 first period takedowns) and then fall over exhausted for the rest of the match. I truly believe Davis never fully got in match shape at 141. Let him redshirt for real next year and hopefully he can get in full match shape. If he does that and avoids scrambling I think he can All-American again.
149 SVN - My heart breaks for Shayne. He was so fun to watch this year with his reckless style. However, this was also his greatest weakness. I'd say in 4-5 matches this year he gave up to first takedown and had to rally back to win. Against a guy like Valencia who was just as aggressive this did not work. Shayne's baseline defense needs work. I get his pressure with stalking forward constantly beats most guys but it also leaves him vulnerable to attack, which is what was his demise in the finals.
157 Duke - Duke got hosed versus Robideau. That said, his biggest weakness I think was his pacing and gas tank in just a few matches. In his first match against Antrell his pace was way too high which led to him gassing out. I think he just needs to wrestle a bit more tactical against top guys and he will become a champion. Honestly, I think had the cradle versus Robideau been called correctly Duke would have beaten Taylor in the finals.
165 Mesenbrink - Hard to point to any weakness here other than Hepner was able to make life difficult with his scrambling ability. Maybe a weakness is his overconfidence in his singing ability?
174 Haines - What a career for Levi. Also hard to find a weakness here. He wrestled judiciously against Minto - perhaps he could have attacked a bit more? Crazy that Levi didn't even redshirt - 4 straight years and done, so rare now.
184 Welsh - McEnelly was always a coinflip match. Hard to find a weakness other than maybe he should have been a bit more aggressive early in the match. Feel for Rocco, since he actually was much more offensive this year than at Ohio State. 184 was just a minefield.
197 Barr - Not much to say here. He was the best guy here by far. He wrestled Merill a bit more tactically than perhaps he had to. I think he could have pushed for the major if he really wanted to.
285 Mirasola - Cole is just too small. 6'0 220 doesn't work at the D-1 level unless you are Kyle Snyder. Cole's problems all stem from being undersized and underpowered. He can get to legs on anyone but can't finish on the big guys. He also can't ride or get out from bottom. He has the skills, but not the size. Can he put on 20-25 pounds of good weight in 1 season? It's doubtful since he is small framed for a heavy. I think both Mirasolas could be elite at 197 though.
Overall the team's most common weakness is tactical - match pacing and strategy. I'm sure Cael and staff will work on this. I expect Penn State to win next year but 2027-2028 will be a bona fide battle. Ok State very well could win it all with their super freshman and incoming talent.
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