Penn State wrestling lands Aaron Nagao, marking another transfer portal win
The Penn State wrestling program has earned another transfer portal victory this offseason. Former Minnesota wrestler and 133-pound All-American Aaron Nagao will compete for the Lions after committing to the program on Tuesday during the Baschmania podcast.
Nagao entered the portal following a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Tournament back in March. He considered returning to the Golden Gophers. But, he also included the Lions, Cornell, and Iowa on his short list of finalists.
Ultimately, the La Habra, Calif., native decided he could not pass up the chance to wrestle for head coach Cael Sanderson’s program. It, of course, had a gaping void in the starting lineup after multi-time NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young finished his career this year. Nagao will slot into that role immediately. And, he has multiple years of eligibility remaining.
“We just gotta keep getting better, and we’ve got a lot of things we can work on moving forward,” Sanderson said after winning this year’s team title. That’s what you do. You come here and you’ve got to be quick to observe and figure things out and what we can do better. And, that’s what we’ll do.”
Nagao’s commitment makes the Lions better. And, he only increases their already favorable chances of winning another national title in 2023-2024.
Penn State has now added three wrestlers via the portal this offseason. Besides Nagao, it has picked up three-time All-American upperweight Bernie Truax IV from Cal Poly and former Wisconsin prep star and middleweight Mitchell Mesenbrink from Cal Baptist.
Get to know Aaron Nagao
Nagao burst onto the national scene during the 2022-2023 season. He was 23-6. Two of his losses were to Bravo-Young. One occurred in the Big Ten 133-pound title bout. The other came in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the setback at nationals, Nagao wrestled back for fifth to earn All-American status for the first time at his first NCAA tournament. During his first-year Minnesota wrestler in 2021-2022, he went 8-3 while competing in open competition. In high school, he was a two-time CIF State Champion and four-time placer in the California state tournament.
Projecting the Penn State 2023-2024 starting lineup
Here’s an early look at what the Penn State lineup might look like next season:
125 pounds: Robbie Howard OR Gary Steen OR Will Betancourt
133 pounds: Aaron Nagao
141 pounds: Beau Bartlett
149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness
157 pounds: Levi Haines OR MItchell Mesenbrink
165 pounds: Alex Facundo OR Mitchell Mesenbrink
174 pounds: Carter Starocci
184 pounds: Aaron Brooks OR Bernie Truax IV
197 pounds: Aaron Brooks OR Bernie Truax IV
285 pounds: Greg Kerkvliet
