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Penn State Wrestling: 5 Things we’ve learned so far this season

By Chris Snyder

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 18: Roman Bravo-Young of the Penn State Nittany Lions stands with head coach Cael Sanderson during a time-out in the 133 pound championship match at the Keystone Classic on November 18, 2018 at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 18: Roman Bravo-Young of the Penn State Nittany Lions stands with head coach Cael Sanderson during a time-out in the 133 pound championship match at the Keystone Classic on November 18, 2018 at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /
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Penn State Wrestling
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 3: Max Dean of the Penn State Nittany Lions wrestles (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

Things we’ve learned No. 4 – Max Dean has been incredible

Since transferring to Penn State Wrestling from Cornell, I have been nothing but impressed with what Max Dean can do on the mat.

As a member of Penn State Wrestling’s “Four Horsemen of the Bonus Points” (Starocci, Brooks, Dean, and Kerkvliet), Max has put together an 8-0 record on the season and has outscored his opponents 94-10. This includes one fall, three technical falls, and three major decisions.

In the four matches in which Dean has not pinned or won via a technical fall, Max has compiled over 11 minutes of riding time. That’s almost triple the amount needed to earn the additional riding time point in each of the four matches.

I don’t say this lightly, mainly because I am never one to make an outrageous or bold statement, but Max Dean may be one of the strongest wrestlers in the nation when he gains control in the top position.

I think my neighbor and master smoker of meats, Nick Salerno, best summed up Max Dean’s aggressive demeanor on the mat. “Max doesn’t care about people’s joints very much.”

I agree.

And he’s not framing this in any sort of light that Dean is dirty or cheating. Max is immensely strong for his size and he has a great understanding of leverage and he uses both of these to maintain control well within the rules of wrestling.

Besides, that’s why the referee is there. So they can blow the whistle if a wrestler is in a potentially dangerous position. And to never call stall warnings. We can’t forget that, right?

Now that Penn State is onto the Big Ten portion of their schedule, I would like to point out it isn’t particularly strong in the 197 weight class. Dean is currently the highest Big Ten grappler ranked as he currently comes in at No. 3. Three of the top four ranked wrestlers at 197 are from out of the conference.

And this isn’t to say Max won’t be tested in the Big Ten. Because he most certainly will. But I don’t think we will find out how good he really is until he faces some of the top talent in the nation in the NCAAs.

In the meantime, it’s going to be a lot of fun watching him continue to rack up bonus points!

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