Agree. And you’re talking about Horvath I think
Caden Horwath, and Davis is doing much better than him so far this year.
😂 The kid just beat RANKED wrestlers BACK to BACK. He's going to be ranked today. He's been about this for his whole life. Look, we all love Robbie...but this kid has earned the spot and is the best guy at the weight right now. He isn't redshirting. If Robbie can find his momentum and improve enough to get into better form, then the spot may open up again.
I assume you see Nagao moving to 41 and Davis slotting in at 33 then? After this year. Otherwise I don't know where Davis fits in for starting for 4 years.. Lilledahl will be at 25 if I had to guess now.. and if Nagao doesn't move up .. I don't see Davis taking him out.. so this may be his best shot at starting.. unless the others move up as I said..
Having serious doubts it will happen but what if Howard improves, can eventually beat Braeden and becomes the better option. Would you be ok burning his shirt, losing a year of eligibility on the bench? Im with Rawdaddy. No need to be in a hurry till you have to be.
Is this the first season you've watched Penn State? Normally young kids who are fighting for a spot emerge in January so that the coaching staff can gather information along the way. He can get a mini season of tests before burning his shirt. Nobody is saying he isn't doing good things, but why burn the shirt when you are going to win nationals with Gary Steen starting?
I could see Davis at 125 this year and next while Luke redshirts. The following year Braeden redshirts if Nagao is still at 133 his final year. Then its Luke and Braeden at 125/33 Braedens final 2 years. Also, Braeden can redshirt next year while luke goes then vice versa the following year. If Nagao does move up his final year it makes it even easier to work things out and can even get little Gibson a year a 125 or 33 if they chose to. To be honest, I think Luke may be more suited to go 133 after Nagao moves out but doesnt really mstter who goes where. Also, if Braeden does redshirt this year i still see him as a 4 year starter but yes that would require Nagao moving to 141 his final year. On a related note, Braeden reminds me of Jordan Conaway. Lol
Yeah, this is the year where there is still light at the end of the tunnel for the lightweights tryin to make the lineup. With the addition of Lilledahl & Gibson next year, Howard and Nagao with multiple years left, and the expected recruitment of Jax Forrest eventually, finding a spot in the lightweights is only going to get harder. With the dominance of recruiting that Penn State currently enjoys, no one should ever redshirt and look to the future if they are the best option to start for this year. Personally, I don't have any inside knowledge to say that Davis is the best option over Howard this year (I'll let Cael work that out), but if he is, there is no reason to try to "preserve" his shirt.
Doubtful that Forrest will be a lightweight in college. He's pretty lanky and only a sophomore in HS. More likely he projects as middleweight in college, and would have no impact on the lower weights.
Exactly. Excellent post. Nobody should redshirt IF they are the best option. This MIGHT change by January, but let's think about that for a minute... have we seen that dynamic take place before?
The best option red shirts all the time. Just in the last several years Zain, Jason, and Bo redshirted. Think they were the best option?
Again, let's wait and see. Right now I disagree with the redshirt thing. I'm not Cael and whatever Cael does obviously will be proper.
Jason Nolf was definitely our best 157 in 2015. Aside from the obvious (he was Jason Nolf!): we cycled thru starters during the season, and the eventual postseason starter (Frey) DNQ.
They all RS'd the same season (along with Nico & Nevills) in a strategic punt season. There are no more strategic punt seasons with the way PSU owns recruiting and the portal. Now, if you redshirt, you always seemingly have a top 10 PFP recruit coming up behind you to take your spot. Also, Bo as a true freshman was clearly not the best option anyway with Matt Brown ahead of him (and it's questionable whether Nolf would have been if either of the Altons could stay healthy).
Just seeing this now and haven't seen if others have responded. Jimmy Gulibon gets saddled with a lot of disappointed unmet expectations. Some of that is deserved and realistic--he was a super 4x PIAA champ, leading to huge expectations that he didn't fulfill. But, Jimmy had a better college career, (and especially wins) than he's given credit for. I will never forget his heroic late win over Iowa's Clark in the dual. As we all know, he really pinned 2x NCAA champ Heil. In addition during his career he beat:
Respectfully, that was a different world in 2015. This program, competing in this environment is not going to punt for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps because he wants to wrestle and has proven thus far that he is the man. Perhaps he does not want to RS. Coaches certainly have the final word but I don't see how you can deny him the spot currently.
He wrestles while redshirting. It's a strategic dance of matches. I'm not sure I understand your point. He's wrestling.
Nolf would have left either Alton for dead by the 2nd.
At this point, my guess is it’s just up to Davis and if he really wants to redshirt. He’s clearly wrestling better right now and him going this year makes too much sense from a roster management perspective.
In the actual condition they were in in 2015, yes, absolutely. It was sad watching D Alton (I think it was D Alton anyway, if memory serves me) trying to give it a go after the shoulder popped out that last time. It's not as clear if they were healthy RS seniors vs true frosh Nolf. Either way, its clear that Nolf was the best we had in the condition they all were in at the time but he RS'd anyway as part of the punt season.
If I remember correctly, they both had some pretty significant gas tank issues. Although injuries may have attributed to that.
