Penn State Wrestling will win a national championship if these guys step up

Penn State Wrestlers who will need to step up – No. 3

Drew Hildebrandt

Seed: 16

If you had asked me this question two weeks ago, I don’t think there’s a chance I would have included Drew Hildebrandt’s name in the list of wrestlers who will need to step up in the NCAA Championships.

Prior to the Big Ten Championships, Hildebrandt put together a record of 8-1 during the regular season which included a super close loss to the No. 1 seed Nick Suriano. And he compiled a total record of 53-6 in the last three seasons while finishing 4th in last year’s NCAA Championships.

It’s clear that Drew is in the upper echelon of wrestlers at 125. And with Spencer Lee out for the year due to his injury, the title at 125 wasn’t out of reach for a handful of grapplers, including Hildebrandt.

But as much as I would like to forget the 2022 Big Ten Championships happened, they did. And Drew’s performance was simply not good. Was he 100%? Not at all, but the NCAA doesn’t care about that because they have a rigid selection process and they dropped Hildebrandt all of the way down to No. 16.

So it’s going to be the exact same story for both Berge and Hildebrandt. Win your first-round match and then face a prior NCAA champion in your next round.

Psssh. Nothing to it!

If, and this is a big “if”, Drew is back to 100% and he’s laser-focused, I can see him knocking off Suriano in the second round. It’s going to take a perfectly-wrestled match but I think he has a better chance against the No. 1 seed than Berge does.

So clearly this means Berge will beat Carr and Hildebrandt will lose to Suriano.

On a side note, if anyone ever needs betting advice just ask me. The more confident I am with my pick, the more money and higher chances you have of winning if you pick the exact opposite.

You’re welcome.

Back to wrestling.

I really don’t care whether Berge knocks off the No. 1 seed or Hildebrandt does it. It would be fantastic if one of them can do it and it would be phenomenal if both can somehow complete the improbable.

Either way, Hildebrandt will need to make sure he packed his “A” game with him to Detroit, because it’s going to be an uphill climb for both himself and the Penn State Nittany Lions’ championship hopes.