The No. 19 Penn State wrestling team might have started slowly, but in the past two weeks the Nittany Lions seem to be on the road to becoming national contenders, despite the myriad of injuries with which they've dealt.

If you looked down the stat sheet, you'd think that the catalyst would be one of many wrestlers. From top to bottom, the Lions have wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally, so it's easy to point to them for the recent success.

But one who deserves much of the credit is redshirt freshman Phil Davis at 197-pounds. He's easy to overlook because there's not a number before his name, but with a record of 27-4, only teammate No. 6 Eric Bradley rivals him in terms of winning percentage with a 19-2 mark.

Davis has won seven consecutive dual meet matches. So, why isn't he ranked with the elite in the nation?

Well, he was until he suffered an ankle injury, but he's come back and kept his winning streak alive. From the way he's performing, it's hard to notice that he missed any time.

That's because he won't let you.

"I think I'm right where I need to be. I wrestle a different style now," Davis said. "Not necessarily more conservative. Different style, different moves."

He does this to protect his ankle.

"One thing opens the door to another," he said.

The adjustments seemingly haven't hindered his ability at all, evident in Davis' earning two major decisions by a combined score of 20-4. But Davis doesn't rely solely on finesse on the mat to dominate his opponents. In fact, one of his greatest strengths appears to be playing possum.

"He has this ability to look in trouble in and somehow get out of it," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said.

That's because he is.

"If it looks like I'm in trouble, then I usually am," Davis said. "It just works to my advantage that I know how to get out of it."

Take, for example, his Sunday match against Purdue. It appeared as though Boilermaker Nathan Moore would turn Davis onto his back. Instead, Davis somehow wormed out into a takedown that gave him a 2-0 lead in the second period.

"The thing is, he's so all over the place that he can score from a lot of different situations," Sunderland said. "I think it stresses his coach's heart out more than anything else just not knowing what's going to happen and where he's going to end up.

"Coach John Hughes said, 'Why don't you get a pencil sharper and sharpen this boy up a little bit?' but that's what makes him so dangerous and frustrates his opponents," he said. "Out of the blue he'll hit a technically sound shot after being all over the place."