Wrestling Show: What happens at 133 for the Lions next season?

The Blue-White Podcast: A Penn State Athletics Podcast

Penn State wrestling continues to be in the news as June rolls along. The Blue-White Illustrated show and podcast dedicated solely to head coach Cael Sanderson's team is back with a fresh episode to get you another week closer to the start of the college season.

Host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Greg Pickel start this week's rundown with transfer portal news. Former Nittany Lion Terrell Barraclough was the only member of the program to look for another home following the 2023-2024 season. He's found it. The graduate senior with one year of eligibility remaining will finish his career at Utah Valley. It is about an hour from his hometown in Kaysville, Utah. Barraclough will man the 165-pound spot for the Big 12 program. In the Big Ten, he wrestled all throughout the middle weights and even saw time at 174 pounds during the 2023-2024 season. He was 2-1 in dual meets and 12-2 overall. His career record at Penn State is 42-19. Carr and Pickel dive into why Utah Valley is the right fit for Barraclough.

From there, the duo looks back at the U20 Nationals and U.S. U23 Team Trails. Five future Nittany Lions earned spots on the U20 team, as Second-year PSU wrestler Josh Barr (86 kilograms), Class of 2024 signees Luke Lilledahl (57 kilograms), Zack Ryder (79 kilograms), and Connor Mirasola (92 kilograms), and Class of 2025 commit PJ Duke (70 kilograms) will all represent their country at the U20 World Championships in Spain this September. The Lions do not have a U23 Team member at the moment.

From there, the conversation turns to the outlook for Penn State wrestling at 133 pounds in 2024-2025. Will second-year Nittany Lion Aaron Nagao man the starting spot again? He suffered an undisclosed injury at the U23 Team Trials. It is unclear how that will impact his prep for the fall. But either way, second-year Penn State wrestler Braeden Davis looks to be on a path to bumping up to 133 pounds. Whether he redshirts this year to compete for the job next year or competes with Nagao for it this year remains to be seen. The pair close the show by discussing all of the factors that will go into that decision.