It looked like Levi Haines’ Penn State wrestling career was over.
Had his national title win in Cleveland four months ago been the last hurrah, it would have been quite a way to go out.
Two national titles, four Big Ten titles, three national title match appearances and four All-America honors stand out, even at Penn State.
But it turns out that Haines might not be done after all. This past weekend, U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney ruled that the recent “five-for-five” eligibility change that would allow athletes to compete for five seasons without burning their redshirt would extend to athletes from the 2022 recruiting class.
That means Haines, and that could well mean that Haines is back in the fold for one more year.
With this development, here’s an updated look at the Penn State wrestling 2026-2027 starting lineup.
Note: If there’s no change in a weight class projection, there probably won’t be a blurb written under the wrestler’s name. Longer explanations for such wrestlers can be found in our earlier projections.
125: Luke Lilledahl
133: Marcus Blaze
The five-for-five-ruling makes it a virtual lock that Blaze and fellow sophomore PJ Duke will be in the Penn State starting lineup, since redshirts are now obsolete. The question is whether Blaze competes at 133 or 141? He’s set to wrestle at 61 KG for the Senior World Championships this fall, which is roughly 134 pounds.
Because of that, we’ll have him at 133 for now.
But that may change.
141: Masanosuke Ono
149: Shayne Van Ness
157: PJ Duke
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink
174: Levi Haines
Haines hasn’t made a decision yet, but when a wrestler has a chance to compete, they usually take it, so for now, we expect Haines to be back.
184: Rocco Welsh
197: Josh Barr
Heavyweight: Connor Mirasola
Somebody named “Mirasola” is going to be Penn State’s heavyweight. The question is, which one? Connor Mirasola won a gold medal at 125 KG (275 pounds) at the U23 Pan American Championships this summer, so it’s fair to say he’s in good form.
Connor had been at 197 pounds, but because of reigning national champ/Hodge Trophy finalist Barr, that isn’t an option for him.
A four-time state champ in high school, Mirasola is too good to keep out of the lineup forever.
After two seasons on the bench, he just might be getting his shot.
