Penn State Wrestler Buys Cow From Teammate In Order To Bulk Up

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The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling team is currently the greatest dynasty in American sports, and most sports fans have no idea it exists. The Nittany Lions and head coach Cael Sanders have won 11 of the last 13 NCAA team championships, including the last three in a row. Last season, Penn State broke the record for team points at an NCAA Tournament with 172.5 and they’re once again favored to win it all this season.

That’s left many fans wondering, “What’s their secret.” But Sanderson and company don’t do anything out of the ordinary other than recruit elite talent and develop it at a better rate than any other program in the country.

Enter Josh Barr. Barr is a four-time Michigan state champion who was an elite recruit in 2023. He entered college believing he’d compete at the 174-pound weight class, but quickly outgrew that and wrestled sparingly at 184 pounds as a true freshman. But Barr ran into a problem this season when superstar teammate Carter Starocci opted to return for his final season of college eligibility and move up to 184 pounds.

So, what did Barr do? He bought a cow.

Faced with the choice to either stay at 184 pounds and sit behind Starocci or move up to 197 pounds and compete with teammate Lucas Cochran, Barr chose the latter.

But gaining 10-15 pounds when you’re working out hard every day isn’t easy. Which is why Barr turned to teammate Tyler Kasak, a fellow member of the 2023 recruiting class who finished third in the country as a true freshman at 149 pounds.

Barr briefly hinted at transaction when speaking with members of the media this week, but went into further detail with Jim Carlson of PennLive.com.

“Me and Tyler are really good friends. I used to come up here when I was in high school, after I could get into the RTC (regional training center) for a couple of practices and stuff and I’d stay with Tyler,” Barr explained.

“I became good friends with him, and I knew that he had a farm back home (in Doylestown) and when I moved here, I found out that his dad would like just drive up beef, you know, so I was like hey, ‘I just bought a cow,’ and it’s all good.”

You read all the time about football players gaining weight by eating heavy chicken and rice diets after enrolling in college. But it’s not often you hear about athletes literally buying a cow, especially not from their teammates.

Barr’s purchase paid off. He now says he’s cutting a few pounds to get to 197, and he recently beat Cochrain 10-1 in the finals of the Army Black Knight Invitational.

Next up he’ll face an even bigger test. Barr is expected to be in the lineup for the Nittany Lions against in-state rival Lehigh on Sunday afternoon. That would put him on a collision course with sixth-year senior Michael Beard. Beard is a two-time All-American who also began his career at Penn State. Should Barr come out with a victory, it would serve notice to the rest of the country. And he may even get to come home and have a nice steak to celebrate.

Penn State Wrestler Josh Barr Purchases Cow From Teammate In Order To Bulk Up To New Weight