Iowa (12-1) returned to No. 1 in the NWCA/InterMat rankings by winning last weekend’s national duals in Cedar Falls. “It’s a hostile environment,” Jenkins said. “Everyone knows that Iowa has a big heart and Iowa has a big fist. We just have to match the intensity and match the pace.” Penn State (8-2) should bring some positive vibes into Carver-Hawkeye.
The Nittany Lions own a two-match winning streak against one of college wrestling’s most revered programs. Penn State defeated Iowa 21-12 at Carver-Hawkeye two years ago and repeated the feat 24-13 before a filled Rec Hall last season. “It definitely gives us confidence,” senior 197-pounder Phil Davis said. “I tell guys they are exactly the same team they were last year. They might have a couple of new guys starting this year. But the attitude should be exactly the same.”
Penn State has performed well in home gyms of revered programs. Six weeks ago, the Nittany Lions walked into Gallagher- Iba Arena and defeated Oklahoma State, the team that handed Iowa its first and only loss earlier this month. Still, this Iowa team is different than the Hawkeyes the Nittany Lions defeated last year, or the Cowboy team they edged last month. And this is where today circles back to Brands’ Virginia Tech days.
Iowa’s lineup includes four excellent wrestlers — 133-pounder Joe Slaton, 141-pounder Dan LeClere, 149-pounder Brent Metcalf and 174-pounder Jay Borschel — who transferred from Virginia Tech after Brands replaced Jim Zalesky as the Hawkeyes’ coach. The quartet entered this weekend 59-9. Slaton, LeClere, Metcalf and Borschel were part of a dissected recruiting class. With no geographical ties to Virginia Tech, they all decided to head East because of Brands, an Olympic gold medalist with a fiery personality. Slaton, Borschel and LeClere attended Iowa high schools.
The quartet’s stint at Virginia Tech lasted one year. All four wrestlers redshirted during their season in Blacksburg. The school didn’t release the wrestlers from their scholarships and they lost a year of eligibility because of the ordeal. Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said the transfers have helped turn the Hawkeyes into a stereotypical Iowa team. “They have done a good job,” Sunderland said. “They have improved and are hitting some nice shots and changing levels. The younger kids that transferred in have wrestled hard and go after it. It’s more like the teams you think of — hard-nosed Iowa wrestling.”
Nobody on Penn State’s roster is more familiar with Iowa’s personnel than the wrestler Brands visited multiple times in high school. Jenkins spent part of last summer at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The time in Colorado Springs helped Jenkins become a Junior World Freestyle champion and introduced him to multiple Hawkeyes. But Jenkins has never faced the opponent he will see today. In the match’s featured bout, Jenkins will face Metcalf, the prized piece of the recruiting class that followed Brands from Virginia Tech. Metcalf finished 228-0 during his career at Davidson (Mich.) High School and went 14-0 competing unattached last season. Today could mark the first of multiple meetings during the next three seasons between Jenkins and Metcalf.
Jenkins (14-1) compared his situation against Metcalf (17-1) to the one the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers have encountered throughout their history. “I’m real excited,” Jenkins said. “Everybody puts him on a pedestal and I like being the heavy underdog. I have always been the heavy underdog and that’s where I like to fight from. I’m a big Buccaneers’ fan. They don’t win football games on reputation. “When the underdog wins, it’s like, ‘He worked hard for it.’ In reality, it’s all the people who haven’t seen him work that put him as the underdog.”
Jenkins will be one of seven Nittany Lions facing a wrestler for the first time in his college career. The only projected matchups that are repeats from last year’s dual include Mark McKnight and Charlie Falck at 125, Mark Perry and Dave Rella at 165 and Davis and Rick Loera at 197. Penn State went 1-2 in those matchups last year. “I think it can be a real exciting match,” Sunderland said. “The big thing is responding to a big crowd in an away gym with a lot of people cheering against us.”
Thanks to Guy Cipriano and the "Centre Daily Times' (State College, Pa.) for the article