Here are five takeaways from Sunday’s Penn State-Indiana wrestling dual meet:
PENN STATE WRESTLING: THE BRAEDEN DAVIS DECISION
If Braeden Davis wrestles in one more dual meet this season, that would burn his redshirt. Head coach Cael Sanderson said he and his staff have some ‘difficult discussions’ to have this week before they head to Michigan on Friday night.
It shouldn’t be all that hard of a decision. Davis, a true freshman, is 10-0 on the season and has perhaps been the most effective 125-pounder that the Lions have had since Nick Suriano, who ultimately transferred. The only other options are Gary Steen and Robert Howard, and both haven’t been nearly as aggressive as Davis. It should be Davis’ spot, plain and simple.
No Van Ness, no problem
It kind of shows to Penn State’s depth this season that they can lose a possible national champion in Shayne Van Ness for the season, and they’re still going to be fine. Tyler Kasak beat 14th-ranked Graham Rooks on Sunday, and he didn’t just beat him. He dominated him with a 15-0 technical fall. It’s hard to say what Kasak’s future will be beyond this season with not many openings around his weight, but he’s doing just fine as Van Ness’ replacement.
Barr dominates in Rec Hall debut
Carter Starocci has mentioned before that Josh Barr will the next in a seemingly never-ending line of dominance in Penn State’s upper weights. Barr certainly was impressive on Sunday in a 13-4 major decision over the Hoosier’s Roman Rogotzke.
Barr replaced Bernie Truax at 184 pounds for the day, but he will likely have his choice of where he wants to wrestle next season between 184 and 197. This will be it for both Truax and Aaron Brooks.
The 3-point takedown benefits PSU
I know that the 3-point takedown is two-fold. It counts the same for both wrestlers. But PSU has arguably been the best team on their feet for quite a few years now. A technical fall is coming even quicker now than previous years. Penn State picked up five of them on Sunday, and bonus points are going to be even easier to come by.
Their first big test is next
It’s probably true that Penn State is far and away better than everyone this season, but we still don’t really know that for a fact. They still have not faced much competition, but their biggest test so far will be coming on Friday night at Michigan. They probably won’t shut out the Wolverines, but there is still too much talent there to not win the dual meet by a good margin.
