Penn State wrestling show: Early schedule thoughts, U20 Worlds preview, and more
The Penn State Wrestling Show from Blue-White Illustrated is back with another fresh episode as the start of the Nittany Lions’ NCAA title defense inches closer with each passing day. This week’s episode looks ahead to one of the final International freestyle events on the calendar this year before moving on to the 2024-2025 Big Ten opponents for head coach Cael Sanderson’s team.
Host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Greg Pickel kick things off with a look at the U20 World Championships. Five Nittany Lion connections, including four current members of the team, are in Spain for the event, which starts its men’s freestyle competition on Friday. Class of 2024 signees Luke Lilledahl (57 kilograms, 125 pounds), Zack Ryder (79kg/174.1 pounds), and Connor Mirasola (92 kg/202 pounds) are all competing. So, too, is Class of 2025 commit PJ Duke (70 kg/154 pounds) and redshirt freshman Joshua Barr (86 kg/189.5 pounds). What is the outlook for each as the aim for World wrestling glory? We break down the action.
Next up on the docket is who Penn State will face during the conference portion of the regular season schedule. In case you missed it, the Lions will host Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Maryland in State College. It will travel to Nebraska, Illinois, Ohio State, Rutgers. The duo discuss the overall outlook for the year and debate who the Bryce Jordan Center opponent will be. As of Thursday, Penn State has not yet announced that decision.
From there, Carr and Pickel close out the show by offering some final thoughts on where things stand two months and change before the action gets underway. More schedule news is coming, but so far, it’s trickling out later than usual. Why? Pickel closes the show with his thoughts on that.
You can watch this week’s Penn State wrestling show in the video player above and also on YouTube. Or, you can listen at your favorite destinations for audio like SPOTIFY and APPLE.
Blue-White Illustrated will have ongoing coverage this weekend from the U20 World Championships. Beside the current Penn State connections, top Class of 2026 target Bo Bassett and Class of 2025 target Marcus Blaze are also competing for the Team USA contingent. They are at 57 and 61 kilograms, respectively.
“Marcus Blaze is the #1 overall recruit in the class of 2025 and is coming off a gold medal at the U17 World Championships last summer,” Jon Kozak writes for Flo Wrestling. “On top of that, Blaze had an outstanding performance at the 2024 Olympic Trials finishing third at 57 kg while defeating Nico Megaludis, Luke Lilledahl, and Jax Forrest – only losing to Nick Suriano (4-2). Most recently, Blaze made the U20 World Team by winning trials in June with impressive wins over Nasir Bailey (6-3) and returning U20 world team member Ben Davino (5-2 and 6-3).
“One interesting note is that Blaze is entering his senior year of high school and is still uncommitted. Penn State, Ohio State, Iowa Michigan, Cornell, and Purdue were all schools he visited and listed as his top 6. If Blaze brings home gold from Spain, the anticipation for him to commit will grow even bigger upon his return.”
