3 thoughts on Carter Starocci's return to Penn State wrestling in 2024-2025

Penn State wrestling received a big lineup boost for the 2024-2025 season on Wednesday night when four-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci announced he’d be returning for a final season with the Nittany Lions. The Erie, Pa., native went from leaning toward not coming back to saying he would probably do so. Now, he officially will.

“As everyone knows, this year was difficult as I had to deal with many things both on and off the mat,” Starocci wrote in a statement posted to social media. “Even though this season ended with me on top of the podium, I was not satisfied. I’m here to take over. With one year of eligibility left, I want to end my collegiate career on my terms. Healthy, in style, and in a dominant fashion. With this in mind, l’m excited to announce that I will be returning to Penn State to bring another national title to State College, Pennsylvania.”

What does it mean for the Lions? We cover that and more below.

1. Penn State is one step away from having the band back together

Or most of it, anyway. Bernie Truax and Aaron Brooks could not return at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively, as they are out of eligibility. But, Beau Bartlett had a year left to use if he wanted to at 141, and the same could be said for both Starocci at 174 pounds and Greg Kerkvliet at heavyweight. Bartlett was the first Lion to say he’d be back for one final season. Starocci followed him. Now, the wrestling world awaits Kerkvliet’s decision. The Minnesota native and reigning national champ bided his time behind star peers Gable Steveson of Minnesota and Mason Parris of Michigan before finally rising to the top of the 285-pound weight class. It stands to reason he’d like to run his successful 2023-2024 season back. So, we’d be surprised if his announcement, whenever it comes, isn’t in line with Bartlett and Starocci.

2. What does Starocci’s return mean for the Penn State lineup?

Starocci won his first four NCAA titles all at 174 pounds. Will he try and earn his fifth at that weight class? At the moment, it’s hard to say. He told FLO Wrestling in April that a move up might be in the cards. It would make sense after he competed at 86 kilograms, or 189.5 pounds, at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in mid April.

“I just love wrestling,” Starocci told Flo. “So, I just think whatever makes sense and obviously what’s best for the team too. Because, like, that room, there are so many guys, and you’re thinking like, where’s [Shayne] Van Ness going to go in the lineup? Where’s Haines going to go? Because, he doesn’t want to cut any more. So it’s just, I guess, whatever is best for the team. And so, but yeah, I mean, I can get a crack at ’97, too.”

The 197-pound spot is open after Brooks graduated. If Starocci doesn’t move there, junior Lucas Cochran or freshman Connor Mirasola could man that it. If Starocci wanted to go at 184, it would knock second-year Nittany Lion Joshua Barr out of a spot that certainly appears to be his with Truax now graduated.

It’s a lot for head coach Cael Sanderson to figure out.

3. Will Starocci wrestle a full season?

One of the reasons Starocci fell to the ninth seed at nationals last year was the low number of regular-season bouts he had. The other, obviously, was the knee injury suffered in the final dual meet of the year that caused him to forfeit for medical reasons twice at Big Tens. So, in 2024-2025, we wonder if he will wrestle more in the dual season if he is healthy enough to do so. After all, we have no way of knowing at the moment if he will need offseason surgery to correct what ails him and how long his recovery will take regardless of whether or not he has any medical procedures moving forward.

Our gut says that, healthy or still on the mend, Starocci will still pick his spots during the regular season just as he did a year ago.