Penn State Wrestling Lineup Projection: Mesenbrink, Haines, Welsh Lead the Charge in 2025-26
Penn State Wrestling has literally rewritten the NCAA record books the past two seasons, however, they have some big shoes to fill for next year.
And keeping with that theme, last week we slapped together a projection for the top part of the lineup. So if you’re wondering to yourself, “Hmm, it took Chris seven full days to get his half of the list? Wow, that dude is lazy.”
Hey, I get it. Could I have banged this out earlier? Maybe.
But then again, did you have to grace the City of Brotherly Love (hint: It’s not…) with your presence for three days last week?
I get sidetracked easily. My apologies.
Anyway, back to the main point. And that is for me to try and come up with what the 2025-2026 Nittany Lions’ lineup will look like from 165 to 285.
It should be easy, right?
Nope.
Penn State Wrestling 2025-2026 Lineup Projection – Part II
165
Who’s in the mix
Mitchell Mesenbrink
Joe Sealey
PJ Duke
Okay, I’ll admit, this one is pretty easy.
There aren’t many wrestlers on the planet with both the ability and all-out energy that Mitchell Mesenbrink displays. Additionally, he’s getting better the longer he’s in the Penn State Wrestling room.
At this point, you can rubber-stamp “STARTER” on Mitchell each and every year he has eligibility remaining.
Credit: Lloyd McCully
Starter at 165 – Mitchell Mesenbrink
174
Who’s in the mix
Levi Haines
Asher Cunningham
And just like with 165, this is going to be an easy answer as well.
Unless he’s under the weather or if he missed the team bus or if he purposely locked himself inside the weight room, Levi Haines will be the guy at 174 in all of Penn State Wrestling’s dual meets.
Book it.
Credit – Lloyd McCully
Starter at 174 – Levi Haines
184
Who’s in the mix
Rocco Welsh
William Henckel
So now we’ve reached the part in the article where things start to get a little muddy.
And not in the fact who will be next year’s starter. Rather this has more to do with Cael Sanderson and his staff replacing a five-time NCAA Champion. Because that’s simply not possible.
I mean, sure, they can throw a body out there. But are they going to be as good as Carter Starocci? Probably not.
Going back a couple of weeks ago, I thought for sure the next Nittany Lion at 184 would be Zack Ryder. However that all changed when the internet caught fire with rumors about Rocco Welsh transferring to Penn State.
News appeared to changed daily on the matter. Would Welsh go somewhere else? Or was Happy Valley going to be his final landing spot?
That all changed when Rocco announced on March 30th that he was going to officially transfer to Penn State.
At this point I thought, “Great, Penn State Wrestling will have both Welsh and Ryder.”
Unfortunately this lasted all of about a day as Ryder announced he was in the transfer portal. Then the inevitable happened when David Taylor swooped in a grabbed yet another Nittany Lion to compete in Stillwater.
So here we are.
I truly believe William Henckel is the future for Penn State at 184. However that time is somewhere in the future.
Starter at 184 – Rocco Welsh
197
Who’s in the mix
Josh Barr
Connor Mirasola
Lucas Cochran
I have to admit, Josh Barr simply blew me away with what he did on the mat.
Coming out of high school, it appeared Barr would most likely slot in at 184 for the majority of his career. Furthermore, he put together a perfect 14-0 record last season for the Nittany Lions at that weight.
Moving up from 184 to 197 is a huge leap. At least for highly trained athletes it is. For me it just takes a weekend.
But I digress.
Connor Mirasola, just like PJ Duke, Joe Sealey, Asher Cunningham, and William Henckel, is a highly touted prospect. And it’s just a matter of time before Mirasola and the rest of the group break through into the starting lineup.
However, that’s not going to be the case next year.
Credit – Lloyd McCully
Starter at 197 – Josh Barr
285
Who’s in the mix
Cole Mirasola
Lucas Cochran
With the loss of five-time All-American Greg Kerkvliet, it leaves the Penn State Wrestling lineup with both literal and figurative “Big shoes to fill”.
And while the results Cole had on the mat last year were promising (6-2), it still looked like he had some growing to do. Especially when watching his matches against Nick Feldman and Luke Luffman.
But it’s not like Cole was far away. He competed his tail off against both guys.
However, I would still like to see him develop and grow into a heavyweight in due time.
This leads me to perhaps the biggest bombshell of the article.
At this point ,you’re probably reading this with a quite the side-eye action going on. But again, hear me out.
Next year’s starter already has loads of experience on the mat. Additionally, he sports a perfect record against heavyweights in his career.
One of which was against Rutgers’ Yaraslau Slavikouski two years ago. Two things make this an incredible feat.
First off, he was giving up close to 45 pounds in the match.
And secondly, Slavikouski is a four-time NCAA qualifier and was an All-American in 2024. So he was far from a pushover.
Just think what this guy will do when he adds some weight onto his frame.
So, without further ado … here is Anthony Cassar v2.0.
Starter at 285 – Lucas Cochran
MORE Penn State Wrestling News from NittanyCentral:
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Penn State Wrestling Recruiting: No. 1 Overall Prospect Marcus Blaze Set to Make Instant Impact
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Penn State Wrestling Reloads Again—Could Rocco Welsh Be the Next Star at 184 lbs?
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.