Garrett Scott (Photo/Edinboro Sports Information)A three-time Pennsylvania champion, Scott was on track to become Pennsylvania's 10th four-time state champion before an off-the-mat incident (violating his charter school's Internet use policy) in 2006 prevented him from wrestling for his fourth state title.
That wasn't his only off-the-mat incident his senior year. Scott and three others were arrested by state police for possession of drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop. Scott said a pipe that was found in the vehicle was not his. His high school coach at Juniata Valley, Brad Boyd, called it a "wrong place at the wrong time" type of incident.
Despite a drama-filled senior year, Scott, who was ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the country from the Class of 2006, earned a full-ride scholarship to wrestle at Penn State. Some were hailing Scott as the best high school wrestling talent to come out of wrestling-rich Pennsylvania since Cary Kolat came about of Jefferson-Morgan High School in 1992.
"I liked the program at Penn State," said Scott. "I always grew up a Penn State fan. It was close to home and I knew my parents wanted to watch me compete. So the combination of being close to home and being offered a full ride was why I chose Penn State."
Scott, though, failed to pass the NCAA Clearinghouse, which prevented him from joining the wrestling team at Penn State his first year out of high school. His training that year was sporadic at best. He would work out with Bubba Jenkins occasionally, but didn't have the structure he needed.
The next year, as a freshman at Penn State, Scott was suspended by his coach, Troy Sunderland, in the preseason after he was arrested for underage drinking.
Scott began his season at the East Stroudsburg Open, reaching the finals at 149 pounds before dropping a tight 3-1 decision to two-time All-American J.P. O'Connor of Harvard. Two weeks later, Scott went 6-0 and won the Nittany Lion Open at 141 pounds. In the process of winning the tournament, Scott defeated his teammate, All-American Jake Strayer, 7-3, in the semifinals.
After Scott's victory over Strayer, the two wrestlers split time at 141 pounds for the Nittany Lions. Scott and Stayer were high school rivals in Pennsylvania. Scott's only two losses in his high school career came to Strayer when he was a freshman and Strayer was a junior.
"There really weren't any hard feeling between us," said Scott. "We didn't really wrestle each other in practice. But we didn't dislike each other. We were friends. We were teammates. What's on the mat is on the mat. What's off the mat is off the mat."
Match to match, Scott didn't know if he or Strayer would get the call to start at 141 pounds.
"It was frustrating because I couldn't consistently compete," said Scott. "I couldn't wrestle two matches in a row. I would wrestle one and then sit one. I couldn't get into a groove. So that was the most frustrating part."
When Scott was on the mat competing for the Nittany Lions, he showed flashes of his potential. At the National Duals, Scott picked up a major decision victory, 8-0, over Nick Gallick, a two-time All-American for Iowa State. He was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week after he beat then No. 4-ranked Kellen Russell of Michigan, 4-3, to help propel the Nittany Lions to a victory over the Wolverines.
Scott and Strayer were supposedly set to wrestle for the starting spot at 141 pounds, but the wrestle-off kept getting postponed. First it was because of a hamstring injury to Scott ... and then because of the death of Strayer's grandmother. Scott was eventually handed the starting spot the rest of the season after Strayer suffered a rib injury that put him out.
Scott entered the 2008 Big Ten Championships with a 16-3 record. He pinned Purdue's Matt Redmond in the first period in his opening round. In the quarterfinals, Scott met Iowa's Dan LeClere, a wrestler who gave him one of his three regular-season losses. Scott led most of the match, but then gave up a takedown with two seconds left, and lost the match, which sent him to the consolation bracket. In the consolation bracket, Scott wrestled Wisconsin's Kyle Ruschell, but suffered a knee injury, which forced him to default out of the match at the start of the third period. Scott was sent to the seventh-place match, which he needed to win to secure an automatic berth in the NCAA Championships. Scott gutted it out and pinned Michigan State's Jeff Wimberley in the first period to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Scott's knee injury was diagnosed as a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) tear after the Big Ten Championships. Despite the injury, Scott competed at the NCAA Championships, where he went 3-2 and failed to place.
"I feel like I wrestled poorly that season," said Scott, who finished the season with a 21-7 record. "I never got myself to where I needed to be. I wasn't in good enough shape to compete the way I wanted to compete. And it showed it Nationals when I wasn't an All-American. I was pretty disappointed with my season."
Less than two months later, on May 9, 2008, Penn State's sports information department announced that Garrett Scott had been dismissed from the wrestling team for violation of team rules.
Soon after, Edinboro coach Tim Flynn stepped in and decided to give Scott another chance.
"I spoke to a couple friends," said Flynn, who also gave NCAA champion Paul Donahoe another chance after he was dismissed from Nebraska's wrestling team. "They said Garrett just needs to mature, obviously, and take his schoolwork more seriously. A lot of times people just grow up at different rates. Obviously, he just needs to mature. I talked to a couple people who said that a smaller environment like Edinboro would help him ... and maybe help keep him focused a little better. So we took the chance. You always try to consult a couple people who are in the know. Some people might view it as a risk, but I try to give a kid a second chance ... and hopefully he makes good on it."
Tim Flynn"Like anybody who is new -- a freshman or a transfer -- the first part is getting to know the system and getting comfortable with it," said Flynn. "Maybe Penn State runs more than us. Maybe we lift more than them. Just getting used to a different system. I think that was the beginning. Garrett did real well in the wrestling room. That was never an issue. And he can push himself, so we noticed some positives right away."
After competing in three open tournaments, Scott's shoulder was bothering him, which led to shoulder surgery. That kept him off the mat the rest of the season.
Scott, with three years of wrestling eligibility remaining, is now healthy and ready to make an impact for the Fighting Scots. Most importantly, though, he's taking care of business off the mat.
Because of Scott's checkered past, he knows that he has his fair share of critics. But he's ready to silence them.
"I get on the message boards sometimes and see what people say about me," said Scott. "I use that as motivation. People like to say a lot of things. I'll prove a lot of people wrong. I'll let my wrestling do it."
Flynn believes Scott has a wrestling style that will generate fan interest.
"He's an exciting wrestler," said Flynn. "People will really like to see him compete. He can pin. He's good for wrestling from that standpoint ... The excitement he brings."
It's still up in the air whether Scott will compete at 141 pounds or 149 pounds this season. Scott would like to compete at 141 pounds, but Flynn suspects he will be at 149 pounds. Edinboro's 149-pounder last season, Torsten Gillespie, is redshirting.
But regardless of the weight class, the goal remains the same for Scott this season.
"I want to be standing on the top of the podium," said Scott. "That's my goal."
Adds Flynn, "I expect him to be a national champion. That's why we wanted him. Our big thing is just reminding him every day to do the right things: Go to class. Do your homework. Come to practice. If he sticks to that simple game plan, he's going to be successful."
Maybe then people will stop talking about Garrett Scott's talent and potential and instead start talking about his success.
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