The weekly rundown: Penn State football hits home stretch of spring; wrestling news of note

The Weekly Rundown, our early-in-the-week column that focuses on all sorts of Penn State and college athletics news and information, is back!

Sure bets

Penn State spring practice is over this weekend. The Nittany Lions started drills back in the middle of March. It’s hard to believe almost a month has passed. But, it has, which means the days of putting on the pads for head coach James Franklin’s team are about to end until the summer. The early weather reports call for a fine temperatures wise day in State College but a very windy one. But, you should stay dry if you’re coming to town for an initial glimpse of the 2024 Penn State football team.

Beau Bartlett returning to the Nittany Lions is a big deal. The Tempe, Ariz., native will be spending at least one more year in State College. After finishing third at nationals in 2023 and second this past season, Bartlett said Monday he will come back for one final chance of winning a 141-pound NCAA title in 2024-2025. It helps solidify that spot of head coach Cael Sanderson’s lineup, which could be in for some other changes this offseason depending on some other stay-or-go decisions that we’ll cover below.

The portal starts hopping a week from today. The 15-day spring transfer portal window opens next Tuesday. Just seven days from now, we’ll see Penn State on the prowl for potential new additions while also seeing if they lose any players following a very quiet winter window in that regard. Expect to see more defections this time around compared to what we saw in December and January.

The jury is out on these Penn State topics

Will we get any more wrestling decisions this week? Frankly, Bartlett announcing his return before next weekend’s Olympic Team Trials was a bit of a surprise. We would expect Carter Starocci and Greg Kerkvliet to either make their declarations about their futures at the Trials or after them. Both the 174-pound and 285-pound defending NCAA champions, respectively, can join Bartlett in returning to Penn State for another season.

Is a traditional Blue-White game still in the cards? We’ll find out more about that on Tuesday night. A month ago, Franklin was adamant that he thought it would be possible to have close to a true scrimmage based on the program’s depth and injury situation. Has it held up over the last 10 practices, though? We’ll have to wait and see.

Will any players who plan to portal skip the spring game? It’s unlikely, as the scrimmage offers players who want to move on a final chance to get tape to show potential school suitors down the road. But, it can’t be ruled out, either.

This Nittany Lion topic has our attention

Where should James Franklin rank among current active coaches? ESPN recently ranked the nation’s coaches. Penn State’s leader was not in the top 10. Further, he did receive a single vote from the outlet’s panel, something 12 other coaches who missed the cut did. This means that Franklin, according to this group, is barely on the cusp of being one of the top 25 coaches nationally. Is that a fair or unfair perception? Discuss it with other premium members inside The Lions Den forum!

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