Penn State's Aaron Brooks Wins 2024 Hodge Trophy as Nation's Top College Wrestler

Brooks, a four-time NCAA champion, became the fifth Nittany Lion to win wrestling's Heisman Trophy.

Penn State wrestler Aaron Brooks enters the arena for the 197-pound title bout at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City. / Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Penn State wrestler Aaron Brooks, who put together a for-the-ages season to become a four-time national champion, won the Hodge Trophy as country’s most outstanding collegiate wrestler. The award, presented by WIN Magazine, is wrestling’s version of the Heisman Trophy, and Brooks certainly earned it. He became the fifth different Nittany Lion to win the award and first since Bo Nickal in 2019.

Brooks compiled one of the finest seasons in Penn State wrestling history, punctuating a 22-0 campaign by winning the 197-pound title at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Brooks dominated in his first season at the weight class, claiming the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler award and winning four of his five bouts with bonus points. Brooks defeated Trent Hidlay of North Carolina State 6-1 in the final for his fourth NCAA title.

Brooks, who won his three previous NCAA championships at 184 pounds, was no match for the field at 197 this season. He claimed 20 of his 22 wins with bonus points, did not allow a takedown during the dual season or postseason and scored 11 technical falls. He also won his fourth title, along with teammate Carter Starocci, on the 22nd anniversary of Penn State coach Cael Sanderson winning his fourth NCAA title.

"It's cool to be a part of, when I look back on it," Brooks told reporters in Kansas City about joining Sanderson on the four-time champions list. "I was thinking about it just before I came out. But I remember being 6 or 7 years old. There was a disc of coach Cael, his high school national championship, or high school state final and then him in high school and NCAA Finals, his four national championship titles. I'm 6 years old. My dad said, 'This is the greatest wrestler ever.'”

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According to WIN Magazine, Brooks received 48 of the award’s 59 first-place votes. Three of the voting’s top four wrestlers represented Penn State. Four-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci (two first-place votes) was third, and heavyweight champ Greg Kerkvliet (one vote) was fourth. Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen, the 184-pound champ, was second with eight first-place votes. Brooks also received 13,416 votes from fans, according to WIN Magazine, nearly half of the 26,928 Hodge Trophy fan votes.

A five-time All-American, Brooks joins Nickal, two-time winners David Taylor and Zain Retherford and Kerry McCoy in representing Penn State as Hodge Trophy winners. Penn State has won seven Hodge Trrophies since the award was inaugurated in 1995.

AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.