Penn State wrestling show: Early thoughts on the Lions' top 2026 targets and more
A new edition of the Penn State wrestling show from Blue-White Illustrated is live. Hosts Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Greg Pickel are back with the latest on head coach Cael Sanderson’s program. This week’s episode is heavy on recruiting talk with news of another honor for Aaron Brooks, as well.
The duo start the show by breaking down the Nittany Lions’ Class of 2024. MatScouts and InterMat both recently released their final team rankings for the latest recruiting cycle. Penn State leads both top 25 lists.
It’s not a surprise, as the program is bringing six top-100 wrestlers into the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex, including No. 1 pound-for-pound Pa., prep star Luke Lilledahl, who will wrestle at 125 pounds and possibly start this season, in addition to top-15 recruits Connor (No. 5, projects at 197 pounds) and Cole (No. 14/heavyweight) Mirasola from Wisconsin, New York’s Zack Ryder (No. 6/174 or 184), Wyoming Seminary standout Joe Sealey (No. 8/165), and Jersey Shore’s Brock Weiss (No. 91/157). Those rankings are courtesy of MatScouts. Penns Valley middleweight Ty Watson rounds out this year’s signing group. It arrives on campus soon and a few members of it could find their way into the starting lineup. Why did Penn State have another successful recruiting run? Carr and Pickel discuss all of the reasons why.
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.
From there, the conversation turns to Aaron Brooks. The four-time NCAA champ is the Penn State male athlete of the year. It puts him in line to be the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year. That honor will be announced later this year. Carr and Pickel recap his time in State College as he looks ahead to the Olympic games. He will compete for Team USA at 86 kilograms this summer in France.
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The show closes with some notes on Class of 2026 recruiting. Coaches in multiple sports can now contact prospects in that cycle. Who are the early top targets to be aware of? Pickel and Carr discuss the name at the top, Bishop McCort star Bo Bassett, and other top targets to be aware of.
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