After losing All-American Matt Herrington as well as two-time national champion Matt Valenti to graduation last year, there are more than a few questions about how far the Penn wrestling team will go this year.
"We have no returning All-Americans or national champions," coach Zeke Jones said. "We're largely an unproven team. There are certainly some individuals that are capable but I don't know that they're there yet."
If they want to maintain the success they've had at the national level recently, the Quakers will be forced to rely on sophomores and juniors, as well as some freshmen.
"We're definitely looking good," sophomore Rollie Peterkin said. "We have a lot of young guys, but we have the potential to do well."
Although losing the talent of Valenti and Herrington won't help, Jones is forcing himself to move on.
"I don't know if you replace a Matt Valenti, but what you try to do is get the next group ready," he said. "You try to get them to the next level so that they're ready to compete nationally. There's no question that there's national-championship potential in the wrestling room. But will it be realized?"
Because of the inexperience, few are giving Penn a second look, but Jones doesn't mind.
"We only have two guys ranked in the preseason, so we're flying under the radar." he said. "And that's OK."
Intermatwrestle.com, one of the premiere collegiate wrestling Web sites, ranked the 2007-2008 Penn wrestling class No. 23 in the nation. Leading this year's incoming class is Zack Kemmerer, an East Greenville, Pa., resident who will compete at the 141-pound weight class.
"I think [the freshmen] are a good group," Jones said. "Zack Kemmerer is one of the top recruits in the nation. A couple of publications had him ranked one or two regardless of weight class."
Another underclassman who will carry the Quakers is the 125-pound Peterkin, the only freshman to letter last year. After his third-place finish at the Sunkist Kids Invitational two weekends ago, he was recently ranked seventh in his weight class by themat.com, the official Web site of USA Wrestling.
But Jones will need more than two solid wrestlers if he wants any kind of success on the team level.
Peterkin thought seniors Lior Zamir and Zack Shanaman might help to fill that void, along with junior Cesar Grajales.
Although none of those three were All-Americans last year, they may be close to achieving national success.
"Those guys are knocking on the door; they're on the verge of becoming All-Americans," Jones said.
From a team perspective, the Quakers will face some tough competition. The Red and Blue will face three ACC teams.
"One of the neat things we have is Virginia Tech coming in," Jones said. "They're kind of America's university in that there's compassion for them. They're a pretty good wrestling team. We may do some kind of honoring of their team."
In addition, the Quakers face two familiar, yet tough, opponents at home in February: Lehigh and Cornell.
"Whenever you get Cornell and Lehigh in here it's a big deal," Jones said. "Cornell is top-five preseason, and Lehigh in five of the last eight [years] was in the top 10."
Although Cornell has won the last five Ivy titles, and a share of at least 23 others since 1957, the Quakers still believe they have a shot themselves.
If the youth of the team matures in time for some key matchups late in the year, this may even be the season Cornell's stranglehold ends. Then again, in the post-Valenti era, that's a lot to ask.
