Wrestling Roster Preview- The Lightweights
· Yahoo Sports
Wrestling season is just around the corner, let’s take a look at the roster and make some guesses on the lineup.
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Bust out your singlet, it’s time to wrestle!
The last time we talked your Nittany Lion Wrestling team finished atop the podium for the 13th time in the last 15 National Tournaments and, once again, setting a new team scoring record with 181.5 points. We’re also riding a win streak of 86 dual meets dating back to January 2021.
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The roster currently sits at 31, one over the 30 maximum but if you recall the NCAA lost another law suit and existing rostered wrestlers are grandfathered in and will not lose their roster spot. Additionally, there’s some ongoing litigation regarding the 5 in 5 rule that may allow Levi Haines to go on more time. Coach Cael and Coach Casey have both indicated that they’re working to get Levi the additional season so keep an eye out for additional updates. With 31 wrestlers to cover I’m going to break this up into light weights (125, 133, and 141) in this post and then additional posts for the middle and upper weights. Nothing, or very little, here is written in stone so take this as an opportunity for discussion until we hear from Coach Cael. I’ll offer a bit of speculation on who’s starting at each weight and list them at the top, then list the expected backups.
Luke Lilledahl
Lightning Luke at 125 is probably the most predictable roster spot that we’ll have here. He’s the defending NCAA and B1G Champ after finishing 3rd in the 2025 NCAAs. Let’s list him as year 3 which means he’ll have two more years of eligibility after this 2027 season. Luke will be a solid favorite to repeat in a loaded weight class with 6 of 8 returning All Americans. Newcomers Anthony Knox, Rutgers, and Isaiah Cortez, Cornell, will make a strong run to challenge the returning wrestlers. As always, chaos reigns supreme at 125 so Luke will have his hands full.
Luke is having an outstanding Freestyle season, he rolled through the US Open beating Spencer Lee in the Finals before Spencer got him back in Final X to take the Senior World Team 57 kg spot. Luke will be repping Team USA at 57kg later this week at U23 Worlds in Las Vegas. This is Luke’s second go at U23s after bring home the Gold Medal a year ago to go along with his previous golds in Cadets and Juniors.
Marcus Blaze
Year 2 and projected to start at 133 though 141 remains a possibility. Marcus was obviously disappointed with his 4th place finish in his freshman campaign but he didn’t let it linger as he rolled through the US Open Championship before taking out Jax Forrest in the best of 3 Final X at 61kg. He’ll make his first Senior Worlds appearance later this month in Kazakhstan. Looking ahead to NCAAs the 133 weight class will be very to heavy again. The top 4 from last March all return and Ryan Crookham returns from injury, this time wrestling for our friends in Iowa.
Masanosuke Ono
A bit of uncertainly here as you could argue that Masa would be better at 133 and Marcus with his bigger frame moving up to 141. Either way, there’s heavy anticipation to finally see Masa wrestle folk style. He recently beat Ohio State’s Ben Davino in an RAF match, but again, that’s freestyle. Masa also run roughshod over the field back in the All Japan Championships at 61 kg.
As for eligibility, Coach Cael says he has 2 years but message board rumors speculate that he still has not been cleared by the NCAA. Let’s hope it gets resolved because this kid is fun to watch. If your unfamiliar he has freestyle wins over Marcus Blaze, Vito Arujau and Spencer Lee. We have yet to see him in folk.
Nate Desmond
Nate will be in his second year and could go at 133 or 141. He owns a big unofficial win over Lilledahl at 125, a win over Cooper Flynn, 125, and several wins at 141 including beating former AA Dylan Ragusin. Desmond will be a solid threat to AA at either 133 or 141 when he finds a way to get in the lineup.
However it shakes out expect Blaze, Ono, and/or Desmond high on the podium in March at 133 and 141.
Braedan Davis
Davis looks to battle at 141 in his third year. You’ll remember that he was expected to redshirt last season but was put into action following Aaron Nagao’s injury at the Black Knight Invitational. Davis responded with a somewhat erratic performance eventually ending his season in the NCAA round of 16. He’s an All American contender but he’ll have a tough time making the lineup this year.
The Rest
These guys aren’t expected to challenge for a starting spot in the lineup but with current rules we may get to see them wrestle more in tournaments and maybe an occasional fill in for a dual meet.
Cael Nasdeo, year 3, should be going at 141.
Hayden Cunningham, year 3, also looking at 141.
Kyison Garcia, year 3, 141, maybe 149.
Brandon Wentzel, year4, 125/133, the well traveled Wentzel started at PSU, transferred to Lock Have then came back to PSU for the 2nd semester of ’26 to serve as insurance at 125.
Braiden Weaver, 125/133, Freshman from Altoona. Weaver was a 4 time District 6 Champion, finished 3rd at PIAAs AAA as a Junior and 5th as a Senior. He had originally committed to Buffalo but flipped to PSU after a 7th place finish at last fall’s Super 32.
U23 World Championship
One final note, as mentioned above Lilledahl will be going at 57kg for Team USA at this week’s U23 World Championship. He’ll be joined by teammates Jayden James, 74kg, and Joe Sealey, 79kg.