As Carter Starocci previously said after winning his unprecedented fifth NCAA title, “I think it’s one thing to go out there and do it, but I think it takes a whole other level of understanding and knowledge and things like that to get other people to do what you know how to do.” Obviously, he was talking about his Penn State coach, Cael Sanderson, and why Starocci thinks coach Sanderson is the “greatest of all time”.

But it’s not the coaching accolades of Cael Sanderson that a former US Champion wants to test. Rather, Pat Downey wants the Penn State coach on the mat itself. Although the reason might have something to do with Sanderson’s long coaching journey and the impact it has had.

For the ones who haven’t been keeping tabs, the Real American Freestyle (RAF) event will be back with its 2nd edition on October 25, and Downey has a massive match card. He’s set to face living legend and NLWC head coach Jake Varner at the Bryce Jordan Center. But Downey wants something more. Taking to X on September 23, he has thrown down the gauntlet. “been wrestling against penn state for 15years. trained w Ed scrapped with quentin wright, david twice, bo twice, gino, carter, aaron, & now i got Jake Varner. fuck it i want @caelsanderson next @pennstateWREST cya Oct 25th”.

Seems like Pat Downey wants to meet the final boss of the game he is playing. In his heyday, Cael Sanderson was a 4-time NCAA champion, not to mention an Olympic champion, so you know Downey would have his hands full and then some. But since hanging up the singlet, Sanderson has been an iconic coach who has produced champion wrestlers like a machine.

Sanderson has been at Penn State since 2009. And every name Pat Downey mentioned in his tweet has been trained by Coach Sanderson. Be it in the NCAA season or any other platform, Downey has clashed with many of the Nittany Lions wrestlers over the years. Mostly, it’s been the World Team trials or the Olympic Team trials that have pitted them together. Against Bo Nickal, Downey came face-to-face in the 2021 Olympics Team trials, the same platform where Downey clashed with Aaron Brooks.

The 2019 US Open Champion clashed with David Taylor at the 2017 World Team Trials when Taylor claimed a 10-0 tech fall. Against Carter Starocci, the outcome wasn’t any different, with the Penn State icon clinching a 12-4 win over Downey in the 2024 Olympics team trials. More often than not, the 2016 Big 12 Championships bronze medalist has come out on the wrong end after the bouts with Penn State. But Pat Downey is not one to stay down. In fact, he’s like a wolverine. Rather, RAF02 has him nicknamed ‘Lizzard King’. And the feisty wrestler is ready to take on any of Cael Sanderson’s champions.

In fact, who can forget Downey pinning 2-time NCAA champion Quentin Wright in the US Open Championships? That’s who Pat Downey is. He’s unpredictable, he’s disruptive, and if Varner is not careful, he will end up getting embarrassed by his opponent at RAF02. So, expect a chess match on the mat this October 25. Meanwhile, another Cael Sanderson champion is trying to bait a world champion.

Another Cael Sanderson student using the RAF to challenge a 2025 World Champion

The RAF02 is coming to State College, the home of the Penn State wrestling program. So, most Nittany Lions wrestlers who signed up with the RAF will want to feature on the matchday. Well, Bo Nickal won his headline event in the RAF01. And he already knows who he wants to face on October 25.

Clearly, it’s because the wrestler-turned MMA fighter was so impressed by how Trent Hidlay turned it around in his final of the 2025 World Wrestling Championships, and Bo Nickal wants to face the 2025 World Champion at the RAF02. “Let’s run it at @RAFWrestlingUSA,” Bo Nickal wrote in his tweet on September 16. And to add some spice to it, the Cael Sanderson student even went, “PS underhooks don’t work on me :)”, something that is Hidlay’s strength move.

Well, has Bo Nickal got Hidlay’s attention? We will wait and see. So far, there have been 3 match cards announced for RAF02. One of them features Mason Parris against Kyle Snyder, what do you know, another Cael Sanderson student, and the youngest American World Champion ever. What a legacy the Penn State coach has created, as he continues to keep the Nittany Lions at the top of the food chain.