Before he came to Happy Valley, P.J. Duke left a trail of vanquished opponents in his wake all over the world.

Despite his incredible success on the freestyle circuit, the freshman 157-pounder has found the collegiate game to be just as tough, if not tougher.

Duke, who’s 8-0 so far in his first folkstyle season, chalks it up to the hammers he encounters on a daily basis inside Penn State’s wrestling facility. As Duke spoke with reporters earlier this week, a number of them filed past the interview scrum and into the blistering hot wrestling room.

Alumnus Roman Bravo-Young swung by to say hi, current teammate Shayne Van Ness entered with a smile, followed by assistant coach Nick Lee. Somewhere, former Penn State star Zain Retherford lurked.

Duke’s rolled around with most of them, including heavy-hitting teammates Tyler Kasak and Joe Sealey, who round out Penn State’s contingent of 157-pounders. Any of them would most likely easily slot in at the starting spot for just about any other D1 team.

Right now, it’s Duke’s spot and the stretch run toward the NCAA tournament is about to begin for the freshman who has starred in freestyle action for years.

“It might even be harder, honestly,” Duke said of the collegiate slate. “Some days I just get beat up and I’m like, ‘Dang, this is really hard.’ And then I’ll go compete and I’m doing pretty good. It’s pretty humbling just being in here for sure.”

So far, Duke is fourth among Penn State wrestlers with 25 dual points scored. He’s tied with Mitchell Mesenbrink for the team lead with five falls and will likely get the nod at 157 when Penn State begins its conference schedule by hosting Rutgers on Saturday.

Duke admitted he wasn’t adamant about stepping in as the team’s starter right away. Having wrestled 174 matches in high school coupled with his freestyle training, Duke was willing to redshirt if that’s what the team needed.

“Generally speaking, if we can redshirt somebody, we want to redshirt them,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “So that’s just kind of been our history. Obviously, we’ve wrestled true freshmen, usually it was kind of planned in advance.”

Once Sanderson and the rest of the coaches got their hands on Duke, it quickly became apparent he was ready. With a redshirt a possibility, it was a no-brainer to enter Duke into Army’s Black Knight Invitational where he’d get a handful of matches and they’d count as one event against his redshirt allotment.

Per NCAA rules, a wrestler may compete in as many as five events while maintaining their redshirt.

“It was exactly what I was expecting,” Duke said. “I’ve competed against college guys in the practice room training since I was a sophomore in high school, so I know I’m at the college level, but just being prepared to wrestle every weekend, making weight every weekend. I think that was the biggest change.”

Options, Options 

Duke’s arrival at 157 gave Sanderson and his staff options for the future.

Levi Haines is in his final year at 174 pounds and Mesenbrink, who has junior eligibility could move up from 165. Or maybe that 174 spot would work for Kasak or Sealey should either of them bulk up and Mesenbrink stays comfortable at 165?

Kasak is redshirting this season while Sealey continues to put together an impressive run as a reserve.

He recently won the Southern Scuffle with a major and two technical falls and has pushed Duke all season behind the scenes and in 2-1 Duke win in the Army tournament.

“I think it’s a great thing to have guys like that push us,” Duke said of Kasak and Sealey. “And we all push each other, so it’s pretty cool, especially because none of us have egos so we can have a conversation.”

For Sanderson, it’s nothing new. During Penn State’s 12-title run the Nittany Lions have had multiple reserve wrestlers who could’ve made runs of their own. It’s part of what has made the program so deep over the years.

Sanderson has always attributed it to attitude and culture.

“You don’t come to Penn State if you’re not a big-picture kind of a person,” Sanderson said. “That’s something our guys seem like they get asked more than anything, which people don’t seem to maybe understand is just maybe their general mentality would be just go to the easiest place where you’re guaranteed to start. But the kids coming to Penn State are trying to be the best wrestlers in the world and Olympic champions.”

“Joe Sealey wants to be a World and Olympic champion. PJ Duke wants to be a World and Olympic champion, obviously Tyler Kasak wants to be a World and Olympic champion and things will work out. They’re all still young and guys are still growing, but they’re three kids we have a lot of confidence in.”

Barr Back

The Southern Scuffle might not boast the deep brackets it used to, but the Chattanooga tournament served Josh Barr well last week.

Penn State’s top 197-pounder made his long awaited return from a rib injury on Dec. 20 with a pair of bouts before running roughshod over the Scuffle field to open the new year.

Barr, who missed nearly all the early months of the season waiting for his ribs to heal, turned in a major, two techs and two pins to win the Scuffle.

“He looked pretty good,” Sanderson said. “His movement, hustle effort. And just because he wrestles hard, he’s just going to keep getting better.”

The team’s medical staff, led by longtime trainer Dan Monthley, simply played the waiting game, as rib injuries are notoriously tough to treat. Pain can come simply from taking a deep breath or with simple, minute movements. They mostly requiring time and rest.

“Obviously, the last thing you want to do is come back early and just kind of be dealing with something longer than you need to, but his conditioning looks great, he’s wrestling well,” Sanderson said.

Nagao A No-Go

It hasn’t been an easy few years for Aaron Nagao.

The former Minnesota star transferred to Penn State in 2024 and withstood injuries and illnesses to post a round-of-12 finish at 133 pounds. Since then, he’s dealt with injuries that kept him out all of last season and required surgery before this year. Now, Nagao could miss more time after his recent comeback at 141 pounds ended in a medical forfeit at the Scuffle.

Nagao, who won his first match of the year against Oklahoma’s Alex Braun, had to medically forfeit after three matches in the Black Knight Invitational. He made his return in Chattanooga only the medically forfeit again.

Sanderson didn’t have an update on when Nagao may be expected back.

“He just wanted to get back on the mat and see how he would feel and that was kind of the idea,” Sanderson said. “Obviously, things didn’t go as we kind of hoped for him. Aaron’s a best-in-class kind of a human being. We’re not 100-percent sure there yet, but we should know shortly.”

Enter Braeden Davis?

Braeden Davis could help Penn State at 141.

A fifth-place NCAA finisher at 133 last year, Davis was originally slated to redshirt this year before Nagao’s injury and teammate Cael Nasdeo’s struggles as a fill-in. Now, Davis could see a return to the lineup to bolster the team’s lightweights as it creeps toward the postseason.

“Obviously Davis has been on standby and he competed last week, so that’s definitely an option,” Sanderson said. “We have a lot of options there. Nate Desmond did a great job filling in when he moved up to 41. We have some kids in there we believe in so that’s a decision we have to make here.”

Davis ripped through the field at Bobb Kauffman Open last week with two majors and two falls to take home his first tournament crown since he won the Black Knight Invitational in 2024. Desmond, a true freshman, is 6-0 with half his wins coming at 141 after starting the season at 125.

“Yeah, I think he’s made a lot of progress,” Sanderson said. “He’s been one of the best wrestlers since he was a little kid, but he’s just been doing a really good job, good mindset, attitude, getting better in all regards.”