A lot of star wrestlers come from wrestling families, but that wasn’t the case for Penn State commit Elijah Brown.
Brown comes from a basketball family.
Brown’s father, Aaron, played four years of college basketball, first at San Diego State and then at California University of Pennsylvania.
His grandfather, Bill, was the head coach at Cal U and is the winningest boss in program history. Coming from those bloodlines, one would think Elijah would have pursued basketball.
But Aaron Brown saw pretty quickly that wasn’t going to be in the cards.
“I just don’t think he liked the roles and anything about it,” Aaron told Nittany Sports Now. “You know, I mean, he wasn’t the most coordinated, like dribbling or anything like that, shooting. So you know, he was more like a hands-on guy.”
Hands-on = wrestling.
Elijah Brown, a Class of 2026 Penn State commit who is wrapping up his high school career at Belle Vernon (Pittsburgh) this weekend, has his sights set on becoming a national champion at the premier wrestling program in the country, and after that, looking toward becoming an Olympic Champion.
So what set him on this path?
It was family.
When Elijah was nine years old, he saw that his sister, Aubrey (2.5 years younger), wanted to sign up for wrestling.
“I mean,” Elijah told Nittany Sports Now, “I can’t let my younger sister do like a combat sport, and then I don’t participate.”
When Elijah had his first match, his mother, Liz, will never forget what happened next.
“Elijah had like hit a cradle in his first match ever,” she told NSN, “and I am like, ‘How the heck do you know how to do that?’ So it was a pretty wild adventure.”
The adventure was just beginning.
CHANGE OF PLANS
Brown had it all figured out.
A Pittsburgh guy who made a name for himself on the Pittsburgh wrestling scene (127 wins, 19 losses and a state title through his first three seasons), Brown planned to wrestle at the University of Pittsburgh, committing there in August 2024.
But Brown wanted to challenge himself as much as possible, so he started looking elsewhere this past October.
When he de-committed from Pitt, Penn State naturally became an option.
A lot of wrestlers want to go to the place that has won 12 of the last 14 team national titles and has produced an Olympic Champion in David Taylor.
With that said, a wrestler has to stand out to get Coach Cael Sanderson’s attention, and Brown’s relationship with Taylor Cahill helped him make that connection.
Cahill, owner of “The Shop 814” training center in Somerset, Pennsylvania, started working with Brown when Brown was in middle school.
Cahill knew Brown was something, and wanted to see if Carter Starocci, the only five-time national champion in NCAA history, agreed.
“I had been telling Carter like, ‘Hey man, you got to see this kid,'” Cahill said. “You’ve got to help me get him in with Cael. “You’ve got to, you know, believe me on this one. This guy’s going to be great.”
Cahill knew that it would be hard to get Starocci to believe him.
“You know, he’s at such a high level that you always, if you’re coming from his standpoint, you have to be a little skeptical because you don’t know who’s bullshitting you and who isn’t,” he said.
Brown worked with Starocci, and the five-time champ saw what the hype was about.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“He goes, ‘Hey, Taylor, you were right,'” Cahill remembers.
Starocci then told Cahill that Brown “has what it takes.”
With the help of Cahill, Starocci and Gavin Teasdale, a four-time PIAA state champ who wrestled at Penn State for a season and still keeps in contact with Sanderson, Brown got on Penn State’s radar.
Once Brown had the chance to go to Penn State, he knew what he had to do.
“It was just like a crazy opportunity,” Brown said, “and I think I would have been insane not to jump at it.”
QUICKNESS
Brown is wrestling at 215 pounds this weekend and told NSN he plans to be between 235 and 245 pounds by the time he gets to Penn State.
Given that a heavyweight can weigh up to 285 pounds, this will put him at a weight disadvantage against plenty of foes.
But what Brown’s frame allows him to do is be quick, and he’s light enough to try to emulate Sanderson himself, watching clips of his future coach.
“I would watch Cael a lot,” Brown said. “Just because he was like on the bigger side, and I feel like I am pretty long. So I can wrestle like him in a way, but I honestly kind of stick to the smaller guys. I think that one of my biggest advantages is that I am pretty fast, especially at a heavier weight. I am pretty tall, so I think wrestling like a lightweight versus you know, being like a typical heavyweight, is just going to be really helpful for me.”
So what else does Brown do well that impressed guys like Starocci and others?
“I think I am pretty good on my feet for sure,” he said. “But I am really good on top, and I think that’s where I really shine. I mean, it was getting to the point last year where people weren’t picking down, you know, at the state tournament, just because they didn’t want me to turn them. So I think that’s where I really thrive.”
Brown will be looking to win another state title this weekend in Hershey, and in doing so, he would cap off the best season of his life.
He didn’t meet all his goals: Brown wanted to go undefeated, but fell to Dubois’ Kendahl Hoare in 10-8 in early December.
But Brown avenged that loss this past weekend at the PIAA Class 3A West Regional with a 7-1 win in the finals over Hoare.
Brown wanted all of his wins to be bonus point triumphs, and although he fell short, 39 of his 42 wins have been of the bonus point variety, which isn’t too shabby.
All of it has led up to this weekend.
“The past month and a half, and that’s all his goal,” Aaron Brown said. “And like his mindset is just aiming for that goal and hopefully achieving it.”
BEYOND STATES
Brown won’t have it easy at Penn State when he gets there.
The team’s current heavyweight, Cole Mirasola, will have three years of eligibility left and is already a borderline top 10 heavyweight in the country.
Had Brown stayed at Pitt, it’s quite possible he’d have an easier path to the starting lineup.
Cahill realizes that Brown going to Penn State is a risk, but also knows that not going to Penn State could have led to years of regret.
“He has these aspirations to go on and become, you know, an Olympic champion when we’re talking about that at seventeen years old,” Cahill said, “then you have to put them in a position where, hey man, look, you actually want to do this, and you need to do it the right way. And, you need to do it to actually give yourself a chance where ten years down the road. We’re not looking back and saying, ‘Hey man, we (fouled) this up. You know I don’t mean to swear, but like we messed this up.'”
Cahill feels Penn State’s wrestling room is what Brown needs to achieve greatness.
“He’s going to be the heavyweight of Penn State,” Cahill said. “I guarantee it. He’s going to be a multiple-time national champion, and I don’t think it’s crazy to say that he’ll be an Olympic champion. He’s going to the best program with the best guys around him and the best coaching in the whole world.”
