What's the status of the injured heavyweight? The two replacements haven't done well.
That's kind of unknown. He suffered a substantial tear of his pectoral muscle just before the start of this wrestling season. There have been statements from the PSU wrestling coaches in recent weeks that he's back practicing, but nothing beyond that.
To some extent, I think the lack of info is in large part due to the nature of the injury. It's an injury for which the recovery time is more of a range. Plus, wrestling can put a lot of pressure on pectoral muscles. As such, the doctors, the trainers, and Nick and his family are being somewhat careful.
As for his replacements, there have been 3 guys that have wrestled 285 for PSU this year.
Jan Johnson started off the season as a replacement. He was a high school wrestling state champion in PA, but he elected to walk-on to PSU's football team as a linebacker. Most true freshmen on PSU's team enter PSU in late June, and wrestle throughout the summer and fall with their teammates. Johnson, on the other hand, hadn't wrestled since the end of the wrestling season his senior year in high school when Cael Sanderson asked CJF if Johnson could join the wrestling team as an emergency replacement. Unfortunately for Jan and for PSU, he aggravated an old knee issue he had (not clear if he did so in an early season match, or in the PSU wrestling room). As a result, he had to have the knee cleaned out, so he missed some matches and some practice time.
Caleb Livingston was the 2nd guy to wrestle at heavyweight for PSU this year. His normal wrestling weight is 184. He's never cracked PSU's starting roster, and it was unlikely that he ever would have. However, he was willing to go up 2 weights. In his early matches, he was giving up 80 or so pounds, which is pretty tough to do.
Wes Phipps is the 3rd guy to wrestle at heavyweight for PSU this year. His 1st match was on Friday night, and his 2nd match was today. Wes was a 3-sport star athlete in high school. He won a wrestling state championship in PA as a senior, but unlike most of the PSU wrestlers he had never wrestled year-round before enrolling at PSU. Unfortunately for Wes, he's suffered a number of injuries at PSU, and never cracked the starting lineup. Like Livingston, Phipps also is a natural 184 college wrestler. He only was given the OK to return from his latest injury a few weeks ago, so it's unlikely that he would have been much more successful at his natural weight than he's been at 285.
Both Johnson and Phipps were introduced today, so Johnson is probably ready to go. It appears that the coaches are giving some time to each of the potential replacement for Nick Nevills (the projected starter with the torn pec muscle), before settling on who will get the start near the end of the season. Whether Nevills will be back by then remains a question, especially when it's likely that he could get a medical redshirt for this year, and thus give him longer to rehab and also giving him 4 years of eligibility after this year.
