Ranking Penn State Wrestling’s title contenders – B1G Championships

Absolute contenders

Here we go.

This is the group everyone is waiting to see unleash their talents in the Bryce Jordan Center. In no particular order other than by weight class, let’s dive into last title contender group, the grapplers most likely to bring home the hardware for the Nittany Lions.

133 No. 3 Roman Bravo-Young
B1G Top 5 133
No. 2 Stevan Micic (Michigan – see comments below)
No. 3 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)
No. 5 Austin DeSanto (Iowa)
No. 6 Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers)
No. 12 Chris Cannon (Northwestern)
No. 14 Lucas Byrd (Illinois)

You’re probably asking yourself “Why did Chris include 6 wrestlers in the B1G Top 5?”. Good question. Well, apparently I’m not good at reading breaking news (Thanks for the heads up Jessi Lillo!!):

This is why I included the top 6.

Because unfortunately Micic isn’t going to wrestle this season, and this leaves Bravo-Young as the potential No. 1 seed in the B1G tournament.

RBY has looked liked the explosive, lightning quick wrestler we saw last season as he’s won his last two matches a combined 51-21. But one interesting item to note is he hasn’t faced any of the guys listed above this season. However Roman did take down Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin (No. 7 125) in a 9-2 decision when Ragusin obviously looked at a cheeseburger, gained weight, and moved up to 133 back on 2/14.

Bravo-Young made the B1G finals last year at 133 and lost a pretty one-sided match against Sebastian Rivera. The good news? Sebass has bumped up to 141.

141 No. 2 Nick Lee
B1G Top 5 141
No. 1 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)
No. 2 Nick Lee (Penn State)
No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)
No. 7 Chad Red (Nebraska)
No. 13 Dylan Duncan (Illinois)

The B1G once again occupies each of the top-three seeds at 141. And once again, Lee hasn’t faced any of the guys on this list this season. Last year he did take on Nebraska’s Red (Lee won both matches a combined 16-6) and Illinois’ Duncan (13-5), but this season Lee has toed the line against some of the B1G’s lesser foes at 141.

Look, Nick Lee has been dominant this season and he looks exactly like the guy last year who was going to win a national title at 141. And I’m not going to bet against what he’s capable of and I’m definitely not going to bet against what Cael Sanderson can teach him.

Speaking of betting on themselves…

174 No. 4 Carter Starocci
B1G Top 5 174
No. 1 Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
No. 2 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska)
No. 4 Carter Starocci (Penn State)
No. 5 Logan Massa (Michigan)
No. 6 Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)

"“I’m never satisfied. I’m not going after anybody. Just line them up and I’ll take them out.”"

These are the words of Carter Starocci and it’s safe to say he believes he can compete with the best.

Carter has already dispatched of Michigan’s Logan Massa and Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero in back-to-back matches this season. Iowa’s Kemerer faced Romero on 2/7 and won via a decision 3-1. Nebraska’s Labriola took down IU’s No. 13 Donnell Washington 13-7 when they squared off on 2/6. Why am I bringing this up? Because this is the only top 20 matches these guys have wrestled this season, while Starocci has taken down both Massa and Romero. Both guys were ranked No. 2 at the time of his matches.

I guess the next thing to do is to line them up and have Carter take them down.

184 No. 2 Aaron Brooks
B1G Top 5 184
No. 2 Aaron Brooks (Penn State)
No. 7 Chris Weiler (Wisconsin)
No. 9 Layne Malczewski (Michigan State)
No. 10 Owen Webster (Minnesota)
No. 14 Taylor Venz (Nebraska)

This season has been a bit of a breeze for Brooks. His only top 20 opponent was Wisconsin’s Weiler and Aaron dominated in a 12-3 major decision. It might be easy to look at this list and think Brooks is going to also breeze through the B1G tournament at 184. And you might be right but this is still B1G wrestling.

Brooks was able to take home the B1G crown last year at 184 as he beat Michigan State’s Cameron Caffey in a thrilling 3-2 decision. He had a combined 15-1 record in the 2019-2020 season. His lone loss? A 5-9 decision at the hands of Nebraska’s Venz.

I’m not too worried though, Brooks learned from the loss and pinned Venz 4 minutes into their B1G semi-final match last season. I have a good feeling about our chances at 184 this year too.

Speaking of having a good feeling.

Hwt No. 6 Greg Kerkvliet
B1G Top 5 Hwt
No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
No. 2 Mason Parris (Michigan)
No. 3 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)
No. 6 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
No. 10 Luke Luffman (Illinois)

Have I lost my mind in having Kerk Kong* in this list?

Not at all.

Assuming he truly is Penn State Wrestling’s heavyweight and last Monday’s debut against Maryland wasn’t a fluke, Kerkvliet is going to be a contender in the B1G heavyweight division.

* – credit to my neighbor Nick Salerno for the nickname

He’s already proven it to the world:
2017 Cadet World Champion and two-time finalst
2018 Junior World silver medalist
2018 Junior National Champion

Can Kerkvliet now prove it to the B1G? Both Steveson and Parris look like world-beaters themselves, so Kerkvliet will definitely have his work cut out for him. I have a gut feeling wrestling fans will be treated to a Kerkvliet-Steveson B1G final and boy, you’re not going to want to miss it.

As the immortal Bart Scott once said, “CAN’T WAIT!!”