Penn State Sports Magazine
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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 4 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M competition dates before a redshirt is burned, and he appears to be the man. Competitive Balance Penn State's current freshman class was ranked No. 5 by FloWrestling, is seven deep, and four have gained varsity experience — Davis, Kasak, Barr and A.J. Fricchione. Sanderson is starting to think that could become a trend. "We have more depth now than we've had, and I just think that's the way col- lege athletics is going," he said. "Kids have the opportunity to go where they want to go, and they're not limited. They can find ways to get their school paid for with collectives and NIL stuff. They can be aggressive and do that on their own, and they have a better chance to go where they want to go. "You're going to have a lot more depth. The top schools are going to have roster sizes the same but are just going to have more competitive kids through- out the roster." Ironically, the young guys know that no matter how good they might be, there's someone better not far away, especially because they can train with members of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, which is a collection of Olympic and world champions and medalists. "The first live go with Thomas Gil- man, I got beat up pretty good," Da- vis said recently, referring to the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist. "But I've im- proved since. A lot. Hand fighting, top and bottom, different shots and figuring out series and stuff. "It's just a lot of getting better, that's for sure. I've made a lot of improvement every single day. It's just really nice to be here and have these coaches. I'm con- fident in them, and everything I need, they give it to me." The Power Of Belief Because of his scholastic dominance, Davis wasn't surprised when he burst successfully into the Lions' lineup. "I have no doubts," he said. Barr, meanwhile, won 125 of 126 scho- lastic matches, claimed four state ti- tles in Michigan and was ranked as the No. 10 overall prospect in the nation as a senior. As with his PSU classmate, though, his early experience at PSU showed him that there was much work still to be done. "I went through my last two years in high school ranked very highly in the country, and I wasn't getting beat in practice at all. I came here the first couple of weeks, and I was getting my butt kicked every single day," he said. "Just losing in practice has helped me and made me better. That's probably the most difficult thing." The freshmen have impressed their teammates since arriving on campus. "They fill in really well, and I think that's a credit to our coaches," said se- nior 174-pounder Carter Starocci, who this season could become Penn State's f i rs t fo u r- t i m e NCA A c h a m p i o n . "When I came in, I had Roman [Bravo- Young] on the team, I had Nick Lee on the team and then Max Dean. "You think losing those guys is going to hurt, and we've got to fill some holes. But then the freshmen every year just keep getting better and better. I'm sure it's going to continue long after me and Aaron [Brooks] are gone. … They're just going to keep getting better, and that's a credit to our coaches." Brooks, a super senior who can be- come Penn State's second four-timer in Kansas City in March, said "it's cool to see" the freshmen performing as they do. "As you get older in a sport, you can become used to [seeing freshmen per- forming well], and you see their excite- ment and the way they approach it," Brooks said about Davis, Kasak and Barr. "They go hard, and they want to show the crowd they can compete. It's cool work- ing with them. It's like a mentorship, but you learn stuff from them as well." That's not lost on Sanderson. "Just believing in yourself is some- thing that's hard to help somebody with," he said. "I think they believe in themselves, and that's the major foun- dation piece. We can keep helping them out along the way. Davis was attacking with some different things the last cou- ple matches, which is good to see, and Kasak threw a couple different things out there against Indiana, which was good to see … He kept scoring. "I don't know how you wrestle on this team with guys like Carter and Aaron and Greg [Kerkvliet] and guys we have up and down the lineup and not be in- spired and motivated to go out there and try to score more points. They believe they're going to win, and that's the most important thing." ■ Thrust into the starting lineup at 149 pounds after Shayne Van Ness suffered a season-ending knee injury in December, Tyler Kasak won six of his first seven matches. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS