Penn State wrestling notebook: Cael Sanderson talks Brady Berge, midseason additions, and more

Penn State wrestling is ready for another week of competition.

January and February are busy months for the Nittany Lions, but they have just one match this week. Rutgers visits Rec Hall for a 5 p.m. ET showdown on Sunday. One of the ESPN family of networks will televise the proceedings from State College. It will also air on the Penn State Sports Network with longtime program radio voice and play-by-play announcer Jeff Byers.

On Tuesday, head coach Cael Sanderson held his weekly ZOOM news conference with reporters. Here are the takeaways.

What’s the Penn State plan for Berge?

Penn State fans reacted with excitement last week when two-time NCAA qualifier Brady Berge announced he’d be returning for one final semester with the Nittany Lions.

Most initially assumed that Berge, who was working as an assistant coach at South Dakota State, would wrestle at 157 if he won the spot. However, Byers said over the weekend on-air that 165 was more likely.

Here is what Sanderson said on the topic Tuesday:

“He just got here Sunday. He came in. He’s in classes, yesterday, today, obviously, we have practice here and we’ll see him, and we’ll figure out the plan moving forward, not only with him but other guys moving forward. Is there a wrestle-off? Do we need a wrestle-off? Those are some things we need to work out.

“For him it’s just a matter of making sure he’s feeling good and healthy. When he’s ready, he’ll go.”

Sanderson never gives much away, of course, prior to match day. So, stay tuned, but we could see Berge on Sunday.

Working in the midseason transfers

Berge was one of two big mid-semester additions for the Nittany Lions. Penn State also added former two-time Central Michigan All-American Drew Hildebrandt. He kicked off his PSU career with a pair of victories last Friday and Sunday.

Sanderson was asked about the process of bringing in transfers while not upsetting current members of the roster who have been competing in certain spots.

“I think it’s just a matter of being fair,” Sanderson said. “Everyone has an equal opportunity to make the team and compete for the team. That will never change. When you come to Penn State, we’re competing, and our goal is to be the best team in the country and compete for national titles. Sometimes those conversations, even Hildebrandt, we talked to him and we thought there was a chance he was coming, then we thought he wasn’t coming, then when he said he was coming, he was on campus three or four days later. It’s not something you prep or prepare for. Berge, same thing. It was a pretty quick decision. It was something he’d probably been considering, even last year, whether he was really ready to step away from the sport. A lot of times assistant coaches are wrestling three times as much as the kids on the team, so they’re in good shape and ready to go. You just be fair. If my son or cousin’s on the team, it’s the same thing. We’re trying to put the best team we possibly can out there.

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“Everyone’s not always happy. We have parents just like every other team, and kids, everyone doesn’t leave happy. We do the best we can and try to be fair. I think everybody sees the same things we see. When the program becomes one where you inherit a spot and don’t earn it, that’s not a good thing. [Jake] Campbell and [Baylor] Shunk made the effort to make [125] and did a great job and put a great effort in. Same thing at ’57 and ’65. We’re going to compete just like we ask them to do.”

Penn State continues to fight through lineup changes

Penn State has not just had voluntary lineup changes because of newcomers, of course. The team’s perfect start during the 2021 portion of the slate also included plenty of substitutes due to illness.

The Lions had a normal lineup in their shutout win over Maryland last Friday. But, the same could not be said about Sunday’s win over Indiana. More or less, it will be a fact of life moving forward for programs across the country in all sports who are competing amid the Omicron portion of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We were hoping we’d be through that in November,” Sanderson said.
Everything you’re seeing is consistent across the nation. It’s consistent across each university and town. The flu has been the nastiest batch that I ever remember. It’s just the way it is. Nobody’s safe. Vaccinated, not vaccinated, had COVID, don’t have COVID, everyone’s just kind of getting it again.

“We just have to do the best we can and be grateful that we’re wrestling.”

Penn State has no new word on Beard

Penn State 197-pound backup and former NCAA All-American Michael Beard medically forfeited out of the championship bout at the Southern Scuffle earlier this month.

Last week, Sanderson said the program was waiting to learn more about the injury and a possible timeline to return. There was no new update this week.

“I don’t really have an update on Mike,” Sanderson said.

“I think he’s feeling good and I think he’ll be good to go here shortly.”