As Penn State’s heavyweight, Jan Johnson stepped on the mat last. When he entered through one of Rec Hall’s tunnels, the sellout crowd leapt to its feet.
Few had left to beat the traffic. They stayed to see what the freshman linebacker would do in a singlet instead of pads.
Johnson, who is redshirting for coach James Franklin and the football team, earned the first takedown of his career, which sealed his match 3-2 and put an exclamation point on the Nittany Lions’ 50-0 shutout of Lock Haven on Friday night.
His takedown of the Bald Eagles’ Brad Emerick elicited a roar from those in Rec Hall.