ADVERTISEMENT

5 Men of Mystery on Penn State's Roster

Login to view embedded media

See Link. Decent list, although Elliott Washington, Alex Birchmeier and even AJ Harris (played less than 100 snaps for UGA last year) could have also been included. The thing that stands out from the clips is how well Rucci played at left tackle vs. LSU in the bowl game. Is he competing for both tackle spots at Penn State? Or is it strictly Jven vs. Donkah on the right side and Rucci vs. Shelton on the left side?

FB Recruiting 2025 DB Omari Gaines decommits from Penn State, reopens recruitment

If we see some recruiting news sometime soon. I’m told that it was a Penn State decision here.

11:06 EDIT -- Omari Gaines has announced his decommitment.

  • Like
Reactions: Richie O

BB Recruiting MINGO’S BIG YEAR HAS HIM MOVING TOWARD THE TOP 50

Login to view embedded media
Long Island (N.Y) Lutheran guard Kayden Mingo continues to rise up the rankings, jumping 11 more spots in this refresh after moving up five in the last one.

Mingo had a breakout season playing a national schedule for one of the top high school teams in the country. The four-star prospect has taken massive strides as an outside shooter and a facilitator as a junior and could see his offer list rapidly expand this spring. Programs such as Penn State, Cal, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have already offered.

2024 Season Keys to PSU in the Playoffs

After seeing the last winter workouts on Thursday and Friday the key to making the playoffs is all about the Offensive Line. The skill position guys are in place. The new OC is a good one. Impressive guy. But got to have seven good OLs. Not sure they do right now. Spring is all about making that happen.

Defensively, Allen is not a drop off from Manny. So inspiring and probably a two yr type of guy. Will be a HC again. Any issue might be secondary although the new transfers are really talented and serious especially Harris. Kicking game in good shape.

The floor for this team is 10-2 and playoff bound if they can figure out the OL and stay healthy.

This is Franklins year to do it. No scUM and O$U at home! Would love a PSU vs. Oregon B1G Championship game in December and wouldn’t be surprised at all.

What say you?

Youth Wrestling Tournament Advice

Hey All,

Hoping to get some advice from people who know more than me. I'm taking my 5yo, first year wrestler up to the NLWC Clinic of Champions on 3/2 and I need help deciding which tournament he should compete at the next day.

The first option is the Nittany Lion Wrestling Tournament, which is being hosted at Rec Hall. He'd be in the 6U division and likely in the 50lb bracket weighing 46lb. We're already registered for this one because I didn't know that the other option existed when I signed him up for the clinic.

The second option is the Break The Chains First Year Finale, which is being hosted at the Nittany Valley Sports Center. This tournament is first year wrestlers only and has odd year divisions so he'd be able to wrestle 5U. In addition, they're giving a 1lb allowance so he could be in the 45lb division, depending on how much ice cream we eat on Saturday.

For some additional context, my son is not a hammer. He just wrestled his first tournament ever yesterday. It was a novice tournament and he went 0-2, dropping him to 7-9 on the season. My biggest concern with the NLWC tournament would be that he runs into bigger, more experienced wrestlers and gets pinned in the first period twice and doesn't actually gain anything from the experience. My concern with the FYF tournament is that there won't be enough registrants for his division, they need to combine with another division, and the same thing happens but in a less cool environment.

Does anybody on this board have any experience with either of these tournaments specifically, or any general advice for a first year wrestling Dad? Obviously the focus is on having fun and trying hard and winning doesn't actually matter, but it's hard to do the first two things if you're on your back in under 30 seconds.

Thanks in advance!

BTN+ help

Question for the board. Anyone else having trouble subscribing? I’ve subscribed in the past, but I tried subscribing for Edinborough match. No luck. Get to the pay part, and nothing happens. Doesn’t take my $, and still says subscription is needed.

Is anyone else having issues? Is there a customer service number to call? I can’t seem to locate one.

TIA

Casey's nuggets of gold from the 2-25-24 PSWC social.

Casey Cunningham was the guest speaker at this past Sunday’s social, and he candidly answered a variety of questions. Going off memory here which is sliding so please fill in any blanks.

Question 1, which I was late getting to hear, was about the debacle after the match at Maryland. Casey said he’s been called a lot of things in his coaching career but never a Mother F’r . Casey also told a funny story about after the Iowa match, that during the handshake line, Tom Brands said,” you really kicked our ass”!, and then said nothing else. Everyone thought that was pretty funny!

Next question was by me. I asked that since the BTN+ student home announcers sometimes have very little knowledge of wrestling, would it be possible to make a short video explaining scoring, pinning moves, etc for them? Everyone laughed, but he thought it was a good idea.

Question about starters for the match? Casey answered that it would be the first time all the starters were healthy since early season and all would be going today. He said the flu hit them pretty hard as it did other teams mentioning Missouri and how many guys were out for the ISU match.

Question about having a PSU women’s wrestling team? Casey answered that PSU is currently offering 31 sports to student athletes, and adding another will take some work. He stated that his daughter is 10 years old and wrestles, so he’s definitely in favor of it. Casey said the Iowa coaches sent his daughter an Iowa women’s wrestling shirt, and he threw it away. That brought a big roar from the crowd. Someone else asked who the women spar with and he said with each other and that the lighter guys in the room will work with them when they can.

Question about his most memorable matches as a PSU coach? Casey stated that Bo’s pin of MyMar at the 2018 championships stands out. He said DT’s Olympic Gold metal match rated right up there. He mentioned Zain’s World Gold metal and told a funny story about it. Casey was so happy for Zain and was fighting back tears when he hugged him after the match. He laughed and said Zain had this look that said ‘ get a hold of yourself Casey’. Someone mentioned Anthony Cassar and Casey said another great story.

That’s all I can think of for now, but if you were there and know any other good ones I missed please pile on. Also forgive the grammatical errors!

The Second String Report

Who was it that said at PSU there are national champions and guys that help make national champions? Here’s a salute to the non-starters in 23-24:

Donovan Ball
1-2 this year. Have to think he’s been a big part of AB’s success.

Josh Barr
15-0 while redshirting as a freshman. 11 wins by bonus. Beat current IM #12 Nolan. Look out 2024-2025.

Terrell Barraclough
12-2 this year. Beat current IM #12 Turley at 174 and current IM #9 Fish at 165. Lost only to Psycho (8-5) and #3 at 174 Griffith (2-1). And then there’s what he did in freestyle at US Open.

Brian Borden
8-6 on season. Five wins by bonus.

Lucas Cochran
12-2 on the season; 9 wins by bonus. Epic and dominant win over current IM #12 Slavikouski while giving up 50 lbs.

Aurelius Dunbar
2-4 on the season.

David Evans
12-3 this season; 6 wins by bonus. Losses to Kasak (4-2 and 2-1 TB) and current IM #17 Hines (6-4). Win over current IM #18 Composto.

AJ Fricchione
2-2 with a WBF

Kyison Garcia
3-2 with two wins by bonus.

Imran Heard
1-2

Robert Howard
3-4 with a fall. We’ll miss you Robbie.

Jack Kelly
3-3 with two falls

Matt Lee
5-3; four wins by bonus. Two losses to Barraclough (11-8 SV and 4-0) and one by FFT.

Timothy Levine
0-4

Kurt McHenry
1-2

Connor Pierce
7-6; four wins by bonus

Baylor Shunk
2-7; two wins by bonus

Gary Steen
6-3; five wins by bonus

Marco Vespa
0-2; epic TD last year and almost a cradle

Sean Wang
1-3 with a bonus win

The following “backups” and redshirts had no folkstyle matches this season:

Alex Facundo
Erik Gibson
Joe Lee
Karl Shindledecker
Branden Wentzel


Facundo, of course, has been very impressive in freestyle while on ORS, including a 3rd at the US Open.

My sincere apologies if I missed anyone.

Football Just read that van den Berg is no longer on the team.

Plenty of talented and experienced DT's still on the roster, but he seemed like a stout DT for the middle of the defense......

Edit: Rivalsl already had an article on it.

ADVERTISEMENT

Filter

ADVERTISEMENT