A lot is expected of Penn State wrestling true freshman Marcus Blaze, and he didn’t disappoint in his debut.
Blaze took on Oklahoma’s Tyson Charmoli and beat him in decisively, 18-3, with the tech-fall coming 5:13 into the match.
This shouldn’t surprise anybody.
The Perrysburg, Ohio star won his fourth state championship and did so jumping up from 138 to 150 pounds. This versatility is part of why Blaze is starting at Penn State right away. In college, everybody knew Blaze would be competing at either 133 and 141. With world champ Masanosuke Ono and All-American Braeden Davis redshirting, Blaze is the guy at 141.
Many Penn State fans expected to see two elite freshmen debut Friday night, with coach Cael Sanderson seeming to confirm that PJ Duke would be starting at 157. But it’s Joe Sealey, not Duke, who’s in the lineup for Penn State against Oklahoma, for reasons unknown yet.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“Marcus Blaze is just one of those guys,” Sanderson said at Tuesday’s media day. “He’s as good of a wrestler as there’s ever been. Just he’s a great kid, great person, tremendous competitor. And we have all the confidence in the world in Marcus. So he’s one of those guys we’re going to say a lot. I think I say a lot throughout the years that we’re glad this guy’s on our team. One of those deals.”
“As good a wrestler as there’s ever been” is a bold claim, but Blaze might well be the from that cloth.
There’s a reason he was the No. 1 wrestler in the from his class coming out of high school.
