The Penn State wrestling offseason is a month old; here's everything that has happened so far

The Penn State wrestling offseason is a month old. The time between the Lions locking up their fourth consecutive NCAA title and now has been anything but slow. And, some members of the team were barely off before returning to competition.

Starting with the transfer portal, there was plenty of initial action in it. Penn State picked up a big addition in April when Pa., native and former Ohio State wrestler Rocco Welsh picked the Lions. The one-time Buckeye, who lost to now graduated Nittany Lion Carter Starocci in the 2024 174-pound finals, took a redshirt season in Columbus in 2024-2025 to add weight with plans of competing next at 184 pounds. That’s the weight class Starocci vacates. And, it’s the one Welsh is now expected to take over for the Nittany Lions. His main competition for it, redshirt freshman Zack Ryder, hit the portal himself and is now at Oklahoma State. It’s assumed that the two moves are connected, and it gives head coach Cael Sanderson’s team an accomplished, albeit at a different weight, postseason wrestler to add to its 2025-2026 lineup.

As of May 2, the final day that the portal is open for entries, Welsh is the only transfer portal addition for the Nittany Lions. Ryder, however, is not the only member of the 2024-2025 team to move on. Gary Steen, who competes at 133 pounds, and Alex Facundo, who can go at 157 or 165 pounds, join him in moving on to the Cowboys. David Evans is now at Utah Valley. Other Penn State wrestlers to move on but not yet find a new home as of the time of this publication include Jack Kelly, , AJ Fricchone, Marco Vespa, and Aurelius Dunbar.

Read more offseason updates below.

Penn State has added to the Classes of 2025 and 2026

News started swirling at nationals that Japanese standout Masanosuke Ono was coming to Penn State. During a March episode of Flo Radio Live, the reigning 61 kilogram (134.4 pounds) senior and junior level champ made it official. He will compete at either 133 or 141 pounds at the college level and arrive in State College at some point later this year.

“Just because Penn State is the best in the world,” Ono told FLO when asked why the Nittany Lions were the pick. “Penn State will help me. Penn State is the best in the world.”

Ono joins a stellar Lions Class of 2025 that also includes the nation’s No. 1 Class of 2025 recruit, Marcus Blaze of Perrysburg, Ohio, Wyoming Seminary senior Nate Desmond, Blair Academy senior William Henckel, State College Area senior Asher Cunningham, Central Mountain senior Dalton Perry, and Minisink Valley commit PJ Duke.

In other recruiting news, Penn State flipped top Class of 2026 recruit Jayden James from Virginia Tech in March. The reigning New Jersey 150-pound champ from Delbarton is the nation’s No. 2 150-pounder in MatScout’s most recent high school rankings. He is No. 18 in the outlet’s pound-for-pound rankings regardless of age. And, he’s the No. 4 recruit on its Class of 2026 big board. 

Pan-Am recap

Three Penn State wrestlers competed at the U23 Pan-American Championships on Saturday. All of them came home with a gold medal. Luke Lilledahl, Levi Haines, and Connor Mirasola all qualified to compete for Team USA  at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games. Those will be held later this year in Paraguay.

Lilledahl outscored his opponents 31-0 before earning a medical forfeit in the 57-kilogram finals from Treye Trotman of Canada. It marked the sophomore-to-be’s fourth Pan-Am medal. He won every match by technical fall. The same can be said for Mirasola. He won his four-man 92-kilogram bracket on the strength of two 10-0 technical fall victories. As for Haines, he took the 79-kilogram gold by going 4-0 with two pins and a pair of technical fall triumphs.

Penn State connections shine at the U.S. Open

This is the most recent event of the offseason. Penn State starters Luke Lilledahl and Mitchell Mesenbrink are senior-level U.S. Open champs. Both crushed their competition in Vegas to win the 57- and 74-kilogram brackets, respectively. They went a combined 8-0 and outscored their opponents by an astounding 98-11 mark. Both are now off to Final X. The event, which is set for June in New Jersey, will set the senior-level Team USA for the World championships.

Lilledahl will face Spencer Lee at Final X. Mesenbrink will learn his foe after the U.S. Team Trial Challenge tournament next month. The same goes for NLWC U.S. Open 97-kilogram champ Kyle Snyder. Other Penn State wrestlers competing at the U.S Open include Beau Bartlett and Rocco Welsh. They were fifth at 65 and 86 kilograms, respectively. And, Nittany Lion freshman Marcus Blaze was third at 61 kilograms while NLWC member Kyle Dake was second at 86kg. 

On the non-senior side of things, the aforementioned James is now on the U17 Team USA squad after winning that age group’s 71-kilogram U.S. Open title.

At the U20 level, Class of 2025 signee PJ Duke won the 70 kilogram crown 8-5 over Bishop McCort’s Melvin Miller. Incoming freshman William Henckel was first at 79 kilograms with a 12-8 decision over Brock Mantanona of the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. And redshirt freshmen Connor and Cole Mirasola were champs at 92 and 125 kilograms, respectively. Connor beat Cody Merrill of Oklahoma State 5-1. And Cole beat Oklahoma State Class of 2026 commit Dreshaun Ross 7-5.

Penn State sophomore-to-be Joe Sealey finished second at 74 kilograms, dropping his title bout to Oklahoma State’s Ladarion Lockett. And Herring was second at 61 kilograms.

Marcus Blaze wins a total honor

Blaze is the Dave Schultz High School Excellence National Award winner. It recognizes “the nation’s most outstanding high school senior male wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.”

Fellow Class of 2025 teammate PJ Duke took the New York state honor. He is also the Northeast region award recipient.