One thought from Cael Sanderson on every Penn State wrestling starter before nationals

Cael Sanderson had his annual appearance on the Penn State Coaches Show Thursday night. Joined by host Steve Jones, the longtime leader of the Nittany Lions discussed all 10 of his team’s starters ahead of next week’s national tournament in Philadelphia.

The show starts with a comment on freshman Luke Lilledahl. He won the 125-pound Big Ten championship last weekend.

He’s got a great mindset for the sport,” Sanderson said. “He’s just trying to get better all the time. Obviously a tremendous competitor, very talented. He had all the accolades and everything coming into Penn State. So, you know, our job at this point is just don’t screw him up, right? Just kind of stay out of his way. Let him do his thing and help him. You know, not try to overwhelm him. 

“Because, when you wrestle as a true freshman, there’s not a lot of forgiveness, right? I mean, just kind of, you get thrown in there, and you kind of learn as you go, and he’s done a great job and continues to just kind of see the big picture. And that’s why he’s in the position that he’s in right now.”

Read on to see one comment on the rest of the Penn State starters below.

On 133-pound Penn State starter Braeden Davis

“He’s just been banged up this year,” Sanderson said. “Davis, he’s shown that he can go with anybody. 

“He hasn’t had a good stretch of time to train and get ready. This is the first stretch he’s had. So, you know, we’re expecting him to be at his best here in the national tournament.”

On senior 141-pound starter Beau Bartlett

“He’s can score whenever he wants,” Sanderson said. “And that’s pretty much what he does. So he goes and he scores his points and he’s had a lot of success doing that. Everyone’s a little bit different in the way they think and approach the competition. Some people analyze more, some people analyze less. And he’s a really smart kid. He really thinks through every position. Sometimes that kind of means you’re not going to attack 35 times a minute, like a guy like Mitchell [Mesenbrink],, but when Beau wants to score, he scores.” 

On Penn State 149-pound starter Shayne Van Ness

Shayne, he’s a competitor,” Sanderson said. “He’s always moving forward. “Conditioning’s always been a huge factor for him. But he’s also an incredible technician, and just has a great feel for for all things in the sport. So, yeah, those middle weights, all weights are tough, and one seed through five could be, you could switch them and roll them. It’s just whoever decides to go score the most points at the national tournament is going to win. So we have a lot of confidence in Shayne and his ability to put points up and wrestle in any position. So yeah, he’s ready to go.” 

On reigning 157-pound Big Ten champ Tyler Kasak

“I just think he’s a competitor,” Sanderson said. “The bigger the match, the better he just goes out there and competes. He’s always calm, focused, and yeah, he’s just a beast when it comes to competition. Loves it. He enjoys it. He’s obviously very talented. But when I think of him, I just think he’s just a tremendous competitor.”

On 165-pound starter Mitchell Mesenbrink

“I talked to him a few times when he was in high school,” Sanderson said. “But he wasn’t quite to that level where, when you had 9.9 scholarships, that you were going to offer him a scholarship. Yet, obviously, we saw him wrestle the next year, and we’re thinking, dang, we’re not very good coaches. We should offer him a scholarship. But he had jumped levels and so. And then he ended up going to school for one semester, and then leaving and entering the transfer portal. And I think his dream was always to wrestle at Penn State. So he’s one of those guys. He’s just really grateful to be here and in the program. Which makes us very grateful to have him. He just keeps getting better. He’s a ferocious competitor, and he scores points.”

On 174-pound Penn State junior Levi Haines

“He’s just brings everything to the table that you hope for,” Sanderson said. And, you know, like Mitch, like I was talking about, he’s grateful to be in the program. I think most of our guys are, actually. But in this day and age, and what the focus can be in college sports, it’s nice to have the kids that want to be in the program for the right reasons and and obviously you try to do your best to take care of them. But yeah, Levi is just a great, great person, great leader for us, very consistent. He’s a student of this sport where he’ll continue to get better, which is obviously the key with all of our guys, and in our program, is that our kids just continue to improve. 

“You don’t always see that, but we’ve seen that with Levi. He’s set himself up here to do really well here next week.”

On four-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci 

“I think his mindset about competition is number one,” Sanderson said. “I mean, he puts the work in. He’s very coachable with the wrestling stuff. I mean, the technique that he does, he has a lot of confidence and faith in his coaches. I think that comes from his relationship, probably with his  with his parents, his dad. Some kids believe you when you tell them what to do and not to do. And you don’t know if they’re listening. Carter is listening, because he wants to win. I think it just comes down to him just being very competitive, putting the time in. I mean, he puts a lot of time in.” 

On injured 197-pound Penn State redshirt freshman Josh Barr

“Yeah, he’s gotten a lot better,” Sanderson said. “I mean at the beginning of the season, it was more just hustle and kind of make your opponents not want to wrestle you again. And he’s done that. And as he’s done that, his techniques caught up with him. I feel like he’s got a lot better.

“We had to kind of carry him off the mat in his last match at the Big Tens. But he’ll be ready to go. And, he’ll be scrapping on Thursday next week. So, we’re happy for him.”

On defending NCAA 285-pound champ Greg Kerkvliet

“He loves the sport; he loves to learn. He’s scoring with different techniques. Obviously, he’s a monster, a beast. He’s a national champion. I think he’s probably a four time All-American already, and just been great for us. He can do it next week. He just got to believe in himself and and just be bold and aggressive.”