Gavin Teasdale leaving Penn State, Rutgers Wrestling a Fit?

Former top recruit Gavin Teasdale, a four time Pennsylvania state champion, announced he is transferring from Penn State.

This is quite noteworthy considering he originally decided to commit to Iowa as a junior, along with his partner Spencer Lee (a year older), before ultimately changing his mind to become a Nittany Lion. Teasdale did not wrestle a single match for Penn State attached or unattached this season and actually announced he was leaving the school on two separate occasions.

Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson addressed the news during his weekly availability.

“Gavin is not gonna be on our team, he’s being removed the roster probably right now or today,” Sanderson said to the Daily Collegian. “So don’t expect to see Gavin. We obviously wish him well and expect him to transfer.”

We took a look at future lineups for Rutgers back in May and there could be a fit for Teasdale as a Scarlet Knight, should he stay at 125 pounds for collegiate competition. With Nick Suriano firmly at 133 pounds for rest of his career, Rutgers has had a hole to fill in his former weight class. Right now, it’s been manned by sophomore Shane Metzler while freshman Nico Aguilar is currently in redshirt and most likely won’t be seen in varsity action until next season.

The staff does have high hopes for Aguilar, but there’s nothing wrong with some competition in the room by adding Teasdale. Rutgers does have larger needs at the upper weight, but the Scarlet Knights’ wrestling room has been known to attract top tier lightweights. Here’s a hypothetical bottom half of the lineup next season should Rutgers add Teasdale:

125: Aguilar/Teasdale

133: Suriano

141: Mike Van Brill/JoJo Aragona/Zach Firestone

149: M. Van Brill/Aragona/Robert Cleary/Jake Benner

157: Stephan Glasgow/Benner/Cleary

Obviously, there is a lot up in the air of where to slot some guys due to fluctuating weights but Scott Goodale and company would have an influx of talent to work with to sort things out. Also, Glasgow has said he’d be comfortable at 157 in the future, but is at 165 due to John Van Brill at 157 this season.

We’ll update this story with any further information on Teasdale’s transfer plans.