Here's Penn State Wrestling's projected starting lineup for 2021-2022

Here’s Penn State Wrestling’s projected starting lineup for 2021-2022 season

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State celebrates after beating Dayton Fixx of Oklahoma State in the 133lb weight class in the first-place match during the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship at the Enterprise Center on March 20, 2021 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

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Max Dean of the Cornell Big Red (Photo by Hunter Martin/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) /

Fairly Confident No. 2

197
Max Dean
Record: 91-18
Preseason Rank: 4
2019 NCAA Runner-up (184)

The next weight class to navigate is the starter at 197. While redshirt freshman Michael Beard compiled a respectable 10-6 record last season and earned All-American status, his year was still a bit up and down.

Clearly last year was a learning experience for Beard and he was going to build on it and get better this season. However this happened.

As I mentioned, Beard is very talented and he showed glimpses of it last season. But when Penn State is going to bring in an NCAA Runner-up (2019) transfer with a plethora of experience, he’s going to get a shot to start.

Remember when I mentioned Aaron Brooks might redshirt this season? Well the rumor was Max Dean would take over at 184 for one season and Brooks would redshirt. Which sounds kind of crazy, right?

With how things currently stand, it doesn’t appear this is going to be the case as Max Dean is tentatively slotted in at the 197 spot. As for Beard, unfortunately he’s already used a redshirt so he may just have to waste a year of eligibility and get his shot for the following season.

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