Big Ten

Howard Out For Season, Steen To Start At 125 For Penn State

Howard Out For Season, Steen To Start At 125 For Penn State

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson announced Monday that sophomore Robert Howard will likely miss the season.

Nov 7, 2022
Howard Out For Season, Steen To Start At 125 For Penn State

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson announced Monday that sophomore Robert Howard will likely miss the season and redshirt freshman Gary Steen will be the Nittany Lions' starting 125-pounder.

"Howard will not be wrestling most likely this year," Sanderson said. "I don't know if that's news or not, so Gary Steen right now ... he's done a nice job. We have a few different guys that will be competing for that spot, but Gary Steen's done a nice job and he'll probably kick things off and hopefully get things rolling there.”

Later, Howard confirmed the news on Twitter.


Howard went 7-6 and made the round of 16 at the national tournament his true freshman year in 2021 while starting for PSU. He sat out last year while recovering from knee surgery. Howard was also sidelined for a significant part of his high school senior season with a shoulder injury. Howard suffered an elbow injury in June at the U20 World Team Trials. 

Steen was a 2X Pennsylvania state champion for Reynolds High School. As a redshirt last season, Steen went 5-5 while competing at the Clarion Open, David Lehman Open, and Mat Town Open. 

"Gary's a very good wrestler," Sanderson said. "I mean, he's had a ton of success up until this point in his career. So yeah, there's no reason why he wouldn't continue that, right? He's got everything he needs. He's a great athlete. He's strong. He's fast. He has experience, so it's just like anyone on our team. It's just up to him to go take advantage of all that God's blessed him with and that's a lot right? He’s got a lot to be grateful for. He's got a lot of potential. So again, like anybody else, he just it's up to you to use it ... have fun and go score some points."