At the end of NCAA Championships last year, anyone who followed Penn State wrestling would have expected the lineup to remain intact for this season with a very young squad.
In reality, as the season gets ready to begin, the lineup has been juggled great deal.
The Nittany Lions find themselves facing a classic case of logjam. The Lions find four of their top wrestlers sitting in two weight classes.
Josh Moore and Marat Tomaev are the frontrunners at 133. Scott Moore, Josh's brother, has certified at 133 but is making the attempt to move up to 141 pounds. Scott Moore is joined at 141 by redshirt freshman Jason Woodall.
Josh Moore was unable to certify at 125, where he wrestled last year, which has created the logjam. Scott Moore, who missed a majority of last year with a season-ending shoulder injury, is ranked No. 6 at 133 in the preseason.
At yesterday's media day, Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland made the speculation that Scott was making the jump up to 141 so he would not have to square off against his brother at 133.
"We haven't made any final decisions yet," Sunderland said. "We are going to have him (Scott Moore) wrestle at 141 at a couple of tournaments early in the year like West Virginia and East Stroudsburg, and then we'll make our final decision."
Scott Moore does not expect the change to be that big of one. He expects to be able to compete effectively at either 133 or 141.
"It wasn't that big to go up for me," Moore said. "I feel a lot better and have more energy because I haven't had to cut any weight. In the off-season I have gotten bigger and stronger, too."
The Moore brothers are not the only ones that are moving up a weight class. Mark Becks is going to wrestle at 184 this year, after spending last year at 174. Becks will be making the jump after being a national qualifier last year.
Becks finds himself ranked No. 18 at 184, in the preseason poll. He has missed much of practice in this early season with a stress fracture in his leg. His return is expected in about two or three weeks.
Becks understands that it really does not matter which weight class you wrestle at that there will be talent at all of them.
"There won't be much of a change," Becks said.
"I have gained muscle mass this summer, which will help me and I always wrestled in practice against the bigger guys like Mielnik and (assistant coach Ross) Thatcher. When you get to the national level, everyone there has talent. The way you train, technique and mindset then becomes more important."
Even with all of the changes that Penn State has undergone, they will still need to prove it on the mat. Last year they found themselves 10th at Big Ten Championships and had a 1-7 record within the conference. The Lions are just looking for that spark that will carry across the entire squad, just as in 1999.
"Jeremy Hunter would start each match with a spark," senior Pete Mielnik said. "He would find ways to score points, and that would carry over to everyone else. No one would want the guy before them to outperform them, and that's what we need to get back to."
