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Penn State Wrestling: 5 reasons Nittany Lions are National Championship favorites

By Chris Snyder

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Cater Starocci of Penn State celebrates after beating Michael Kemerer of Iowa in the 174lb 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)
ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Cater Starocci of Penn State celebrates after beating Michael Kemerer of Iowa in the 174lb 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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Penn State Wrestling
Brady Berge (R) and Jarod Verkleeren (L) of the Penn State Nittany Lions  (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

No. 2 – Penn State Wrestling’s Greg Kerkvliet

There are probably very few people who have been as bullish on Kerkvliet as I have. While some of my outlandish predictions from last season didn’t exact turn out to be correct, Kerk Kong still ended up being an All-American.

Which is even more impressive considering the mountains the guy had to climb just to get on the mat late last year.

And so far this season Kerkvliet has been nothing short of incredible. The impressive grappler has put together a perfect record of 11-0 with a bonus point percentage of 82%. He’s not just beating dudes, he’s mauling them on the resilite.

This is the first time Penn State Wrestling fans have seen what a healthy Greg Kerkvliet is fully capable of doing. Oh, and I should also include the Michigan fans in the jam packed Crisler Center from this past Friday.

I think they have some idea of how good Kerkvliet is.

With his win over the undisputed No. 2 wrestler at 285 for the past three seasons (Mason Parris), Kerkvliet has now thrown his hat in the ring of top heavyweights in college wrestling. And when the NCAA’s roll around in March, it will be a huge difference in terms of points for Penn State if Kerkvliet can put together a top 3 finish.

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