Penn State wrestling: Projecting the 2022-2023 Lions starting lineup

Penn State wrestling takes the mat on Friday opposite Lock Haven at Rec Hall to begin its 2022-2023 season. The Nittany Lions return four national champions, five All-Americans, and are again favored to win a national title. Their opening match starts at 7 p.m. ET and can be streamed on B1G+.

“I think we have the potential of having a very good team,” head coach Cael Sanderson said on Monday. “It’s up to each individual to go out there and do their thing and be themselves and have fun and compete and look to improve. I think today probably more than ever, kids are gonna feel more pressure from social media and a lot of it is self-imposed, that they kind of create for themselves.

“Then you have this name, image, likeness, and you’re getting pulled in a lot of different directions. Our kids have a pretty good grasp on those things. So our job as coaches is to take pressure off them, right, not to add pressure; pressure kind of rolls downhill. It’s just a fun group to train. I mean, they’re competitors. We’ve seen this in the past, the bigger the match, the better they wrestle and we’ll just keep doing our thing.”

Before the year begins, here’s our first look at projecting the 2022-2023 Penn State starting lineup.

125 pounds: Penn State redshirt freshman Gary Steen

Now that we know Robbie Howard will be out for the season, this is Steen’s job to start. The two-time PIAA state champ and four-time place winner went 5-5 at open tournaments during his redshirt season a year ago. He is from Hermitage, Pa., and wrestled at powerhouse program Reynolds.

133 pounds: Lions graduate senior Roman Bravo-Young

The two-time NCAA champ and four-time All-American is back thanks to the free year offered to all athletes because of the coronavirus pandemic. He is favored to win his third straight national title for Penn State. ‘RBY’ likely won’t wrestle in every meet, though, which should give Baylor Shunk and possibly even Timothy Levine some extra mat time. That said, expect the nation’s No. 1 wrestler in his weight class to be ready to go Friday night.

141 pounds: Penn State junior Beau Bartlett

Bartlett has been the definition of a perfect teammate during his first two seasons at Penn State. With his preferred 141-pound spot filled, Bartlett bumped up to 149 and was an NCAA qualifier for the first time last season while going 15-10 overall. Now at his more natural weight, a breakout season is expected for the Tempe, Ariz., native. He starts the year ranked No. 16.

149 pounds: Lions redshirt freshman Shayne Van Ness

Van Ness oozed excitement about the season ahead while speaking to reporters during team media day on Monday. The Somerville, N.J., Blair Academy product, who was a two-time national prep champion before coming to Penn State, dealt with injuries during most of his first year on campus but did post a 2-0 mark in open competition. He is now healthy and happy to be in the Lions’ starting lineup. Fans can expect aggression and an all-out drive to score from the opening whistle on Friday night.

“Van Ness is a goer and he just had some nagging injuries that he needed to take care of [last year],” Sanderson said. “He’s really good, and he’s just a tough kid.”

157 pounds: Penn State redshirt junior Terrell Barraclough

Penn State fans may eventually see star freshman Levi Haines on the mat for the Lions this fall. But, the program is still assessing how it wants to use the five matches he can wrestle in while still preserving a year of eligibility. For now, it will be a familiar face in Barraclough who gets the first call in this weight class for the Lions. He had one pin and one major while going 7-8 last year, which included an appearance in seven of the team’s dual meets.

“Levi Haynes is great,” Sanderson said. “He’s consistent, hard-working, coachable … all those things you look for in a student-athlete. He’s an outstanding kid and should have a tremendous career. We’re not going to throw anybody out there right away.

“Terrell has had a great offseason and has looked better than ever. I don’t know how well we’ll play with those five dates that the true freshmen can wrestle. I think it gives you some depth and should help in reducing forfeits, and that kind of stuff, but how we’ll use those, we probably won’t know until the week of matches.”

165 pounds: Lions redshirt freshman Alex Facundo

A four-time state title winner at Davidson High School in Michigan, Facundo wrestled only in open competition last year and went 11-3. Three wins were by pin. And, he had six majors. Now, he’s entering the starting lineup for the first time, and much is expected. The Penn State match notes list Facundo as an OR with Joe Lee, who qualified for NCAAs as a freshman but wrestled in just six matches a year ago. This is Facundo’s job.

“We’re five days out (from Friday night), and this whole summer and this whole preseason, I’ve just been thinking about my Rec Hall debut,” Facundo said Monday.

“We’re finally going to get into it. And, so, I’m just excited.

174 pounds: Penn State redshirt junior Carter Starocci

This starts the run of heavy, and known, hitters in the Lions’ lineup. Starocci is a two-time All-American, two-time NCAA champion, and has a Big Ten title on his mantle from last season. He is No. 1 in his weight class to start the year. He went 23-0 last season and has a career record of 37-2.

184 pounds: Lions senior Aaron Brooks

Brooks has been a force since coming to Penn State. He won back-to-back NCAA titles and was in the conversation to win one back in 2020 after winning a Big Ten title before the national tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brooks was the three-seed before things were called off. Over the last two seasons, he has a mark of 35-1, with his only loss coming in the Big Ten finals. However, he avenged that loss to Michigan’s Myles Amine to take the top spot at NCAAs last season. And, he’s No. 1 to start this slate.

197 pounds: Penn State senior Max Dean

Dean joked with reporters Monday about the fact that he’s still an undergraduate despite being seven years removed from high school. That isn’t his fault, of course. The way the Ivy League handled athletics during the coronavirus pandemic slowed his academic progress on the books but not in the classroom, where he thrives as an economics major. On the mat, Dean won his first NCAA title last season by beating Jacob Warner of Iowa 3-2 in the finals. He starts the 2022-2023 season as the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class. Last year, he went 23-1 while also winning a Big Ten title.

285 pounds: Lions redshirt sophomore Greg Kerkvliet

From Iner Grove Heights in Minnesota, Kerkvliet is a two-time All-American. He was fourth at NCAAs a year ago and seventh during his first year of competition. Now, he has his eyes set on winning gold. The Penn State heavyweight is No. 2 in the country to start the season. He is behind only Arizona State star Cohlton Schultz. The Nittany Lion is 32-7 so far.