Will PJ Duke have a spot in the 2025-2026 Penn State wrestling lineup?: Offseason questions

The college wrestling offseason hit something of a key milestone recently. While we are still months away from the first Penn State dual meets of the 2025-2026 season, the conclusion of Final X, which set the senior Team USA for September’s World Championships, puts the freestyle season mostly on hold for a bit. We also learned the Lions’ Big Ten home and away opponents earlier this month. And, while it’ll be quite some time before head coach Cael Sanderson and co., release their regular season schedule, some of those are starting to drop across the country.

It all makes now a great time to kick off our annual offseason questions series here at Blue-White Illustrated. Some will have more concrete answers than others. And, we start with one that does not fall into that category. But, it’s also the most timely topic to take on following Final X. So, let’s dive in.

Will PJ Duke have a spot in the 2025-2026 Penn State wrestling lineup?

If you find yourself thinking it is absurd to question whether or not a newly minted senior national team member who just received his high school diploma will start as a freshman, we’re right there with you. But, it is a legitimate question at this stage of the offseason. Duke claimed the 70-kilogram Team USA spot by pinning Yianni Diakomihalis in the final match of the best-of-three championship series.

Seventy kilograms equate to 154.3 pounds. It’s quite a ways below the 170 pounds he won his fourth straight New York state title at earlier this year. The problem, of course, is that the Penn State lineup has returning starters at 157 pounds, 165, and 174. To get into the lineup, Duke would have to take out 2025 All-Americans Tyler Kasak or Levi Haines (who is a fellow senior world team member, of course) or returning NCAA champ and national team member Mitchell Mesenbrink.

After what we’ve watched at both the high school and International freestyle levels this year, no one would rule out Duke beating out any of those three for the spot. But, it isn’t a given, of course. So, how will Penn State and Cael Sanderson handle this?

Penn State Big Ten wrestling schedule: Which in-conference foes will the Lions face at home, on the road?

From the outside looking in, it should go without saying that taking Mesenbrink’s job is the least likely of the scenarios. That leaves battling Kasak as one option. Another option might be to have Duke redshirt following his trip to Worlds at 70 kg/154.3 pounds in October, which is just before the dual meet season starts, to have him bulk up and be ready to compete at 174 pounds in 2026-2027 once Haines graduates. That, of course, assumes Mesenbrink wants to stay at 165 beyond this year. It’s also not out of line to wonder if Kasak might redshirt with the same weight-adding plan to move up next year. That would leave 157 open.

It should also be noted that Sanderson and his long-established team are masters at handling these situations. And that means there are more options available than what meets the eye.

So, will Duke end up with a Penn State starting spot as a freshman? Our brain says no, but our gut says yes, so we’ll side with it for now. Which weight class he slots into, though, is anyone’s guess at this juncture.