Will PJ Duke have a spot in the 2025-2026 Penn State wrestling lineup?: Offseason questions
The college wrestling offseason hit something of a key milestone recently. While we are still months away from the first Penn State dual meets of the 2025-2026 season, the conclusion of Final X, which set the senior Team USA for September’s World Championships, puts the freestyle season mostly on hold for a bit. We also learned the Lions’ Big Ten home and away opponents earlier this month. And, while it’ll be quite some time before head coach Cael Sanderson and co., release their regular season schedule, some of those are starting to drop across the country.
It all makes now a great time to kick off our annual offseason questions series here at Blue-White Illustrated. Some will have more concrete answers than others. And, we start with one that does not fall into that category. But, it’s also the most timely topic to take on following Final X. So, let’s dive in.Will PJ Duke have a spot in the 2025-2026 Penn State wrestling lineup?
If you find yourself thinking it is absurd to question whether or not a newly minted senior national team member who just received his high school diploma will start as a freshman, we’re right there with you. But, it is a legitimate question at this stage of the offseason. Duke claimed the 70-kilogram Team USA spot by pinning Yianni Diakomihalis in the final match of the best-of-three championship series.straight New York state title at earlier this year. The problem, of course, is that the Penn State lineup has returning starters at 157 pounds, 165, and 174. To get into the lineup, Duke would have to take out 2025 All-Americans Tyler Kasak or Levi Haines (who is a fellow senior world team member, of course) or returning NCAA champ and national team member Mitchell Mesenbrink.
After what we’ve watched at both the high school and International freestyle levels this year, no one would rule out Duke beating out any of those three for the spot. But, it isn’t a given, of course. So, how will Penn State and Cael Sanderson handle this?
