Penn State Wrestling: Is Brady Berge down to 157?

Impact No. 3 – Big Ten and NCAA Run for Berge?

Now we’re onto the fun part. If Berge drops down to 157, how far can he go?

Well I do have a little more housekeeping to announce as the No. 4 ranked grappler at 157, Brayton Lee (Minn), just announced he would be out for the rest of the season due to an injury suffered in the Golden Gophers dual against Ohio State.

The best wrestler in the Big Ten at 157 is clearly Northwestern’s No. 2 ranked Ryan Deakin. But after that? It’s a huge toss-up with Lee being out.

The next three wrestlers are No. 9 Will Lewan (Mich), No. 10 Peyton Robb, and No. 12 Kaleb Young (Iowa).

Berge is undefeated against Lewan and Young and he has never faced Robb in his career. So it’s very realistic to think Brady could make a deep run in the Big Ten’s and possibly make the finals. But this really depends on his seeding and his draw.

Now let’s take a look at the NCAA landscape at 157.

Outside of Deakin the group at 157 is completely littered with Sophomores and Juniors. I do realize this can be taken with a grain of salt due to the “free” Covid year last year but my point still stands.

This class is far from a heavily senior-laden group. And experience matters a ton when it comes to a match which features one talented grappler against another talented grappler. Thankfully between college and his world experience, Berge has plenty of it.

Oh, and he has Cael Sanderson, Cody Sanderson, Casey Cunningham, and Jimmy Kennedy as his coaches. Not too shabby.

So far this season I have held my “hOt TaEkS” to myself and I really haven’t thrown out many bold statements. No more.

If Brady Berge indeed drops down to 157, I’m going to go on record and say that not only will he be crowned an All-Amercan, but he will finish in the top 4 in the nation.