Another Penn State wrestling season is upon us, and Cael Sanderson’s empire is a heavy favorite to win its 14th national championship in 16 seasons.
We don’t know quite what the lineup will look like for Thursday’s opener against Bloomsburg at Rec Hall, but Sanderson outlined it during his press conference Tuesday.
Here is Nittany Sports Now’s fourth edition of the 2026-27 Penn State wrestling projected 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: Masanosuke Ono
Sanderson confirmed Tuesday that Ono will be competing at 133, and Marcus Blaze will move from 133 to 141.
141: Marcus Blaze
149: Shayne Van Ness
157: Tyler Kasak
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.165: PJ Duke
Sanderson also confirmed Tuesday that Duke would move from 157 to 165, and reigning Hodge Trophy winner Mitchell Mesenbrink would move from 165 to 174.
174: Mitchell Mesenbrink
184: Rocco Welsh
197: Josh Barr
Heavyweight: Connor Mirasola
Mirasola’s twin brother, Cole, was PennState’s’ heavyweight last season.
This season, he won’t be on the roster due to going on a religious mission trip, along with sophomore Will Henckel.
“Both are strong men of faith and felt like this would be a good opportunity for them to go out and share that with the world,” Sanderson said Tuesday. “Those are their personal decisions, obviously, so they won’t be on our roster this year. You’ll see that when the roster comes out.”
The roster is out, and Penn State wrestling is ready to go.
