UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Before heavyweight Nick Nevills takes the mat Saturday night for his match against Olympic and world champion Kyle Snyder, there was another Olympian waiting for Nevills in the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex on Wednesday.
"I'm about to wrestle with coach Cael (Sanderson) and I'm really excited about that," said Nevills, adding that he wrestles his coach usually a couple times per week. "He makes you wrestle the whole time and doesn't give you any easy takedowns, doesn't give you any easy escapes. He tries to get on bottom real hard so it's like you gotta keep wrestling through those positions which is really cool."
Nevills (20-3) is ranked No. 6 in the weight class while Snyder just returned to Ohio State after claiming gold in Russia at the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix last weekend. Widely regarded as the toughest open tournament in the world, the 22-year-old became the first U.S. man to win two Yarygin gold medals after he won last year as well. Snyder is also the youngest U.S. wrestling gold medalist after his victory as a 20-year-old in Rio in 2016.
That makes for one tall order for Nevills and also gives Saturday night's sold out Rec Hall crowd a chance to watch one of the best wrestlers in the world. Snyder majored Nevills last year during the dual in Columbus and the world champion didn't waste any time sharing his intentions on social media about the No. 2 Buckeyes' showdown against the top-ranked Nittany Lions Saturday night.
Now that I am back in the US of A, all my time and energy will be focused on PSU. There is no team I’d like to destroy more. pic.twitter.com/W9MHMtaQpu
— Kyle Snyder (@Snyder_man45) January 31, 2018
Nevills laughed off Snyder's tweet, adding that the Olympian has all of his respect while in the midst of wrapping up a collegiate career that's only been surpassed by his dominance on the world stage.
How is Nevills different than the last time these two met?
"Well, for starters, I got a lot better at down blocking just this season," Nevills said. "When I got here to college there weren't actually that many matches that I ever had to do defense, not that I didn't know defense, but I've just gotten a lot better at that through the years and I think it's shown through in a couple of matches. ... Obviously he's Olympic caliber having one the Olympics, but it's another test and another challenge and it's something that I'm looking forward to."
THE SHOWDOWN
This could be the biggest dual ever in Rec Hall, with the 6,502-person capacity venue maxed out, including standing-room only tickets that are going for at least $100 on the secondary market. The Nittany Lions (11-0, 7-0 Big Ten) are no strangers to the big stage and will be on an even bigger one -- at least attendance wise -- next weekend when Iowa comes to town for the dual in the Bryce Jordan Center.
It's safe to say the Big Ten Network audience will be glued to their screens Saturday night as well. It's important for the conference and the teams, but it's also another example of continuing to grow the sport, something Sanderson is all about.
"There's a lot of interest in college wrestling right now," he said. "I think 10 years ago Penn State, Ohio State is a big match, but it's not like it is today, right? You'll have two of the best teams in the country and they have multiple national champions on their team and we have multiple national champions. I think it's certainly a positive. To gauge the interest that this match has I think it would have to be an Iowa, Iowa State or Iowa, Oklahoma State or maybe Oklahoma, Oklahoma State back in the day. It's good. I think wrestling is getting bigger, it's growing so it's fun to be a part of that."
Making sure his wrestlers aren't swept up in all the added attention of this one didn't seem to bother Sanderson too much. As has been the case over in the wrestling room during his coaching tenure the laser focus of the wrestlers is seemingly always evident.
Zain Retherford, drenched in sweat as per usual, wouldn't break from wrapping up his workout to meet with the media. Mark Hall rolled through the screen dividing one mat from the other as he hung on to someone's leg, not giving up an inch. Shakur Rasheed laughed when asked if he's seen some of the buzz about this dual on social media.
The laugh wasn't at the question, rather that he'd even be on social media in the first place.
"I deleted all that like three years ago," Rasheed said. "I knew what I was getting myself into when I committed here. ... I have Snapchat but only for like a few people. I might make an Instagram soon, but I don't know if I want to because I'm kind of an outgoing guy so I could get a little wild on social media so I try and stay off of it."
But don't worry, Rasheed said his family and friends still send him screenshots of both the positive and the negative out there and with this dual he's also been getting a lot of other requests.
"It's crazy. There are people in line trying to get (tickets to) this match," he said. "Everyone is excited. We got everyone coming out and again for Iowa too. That match is gonna be crazy too."
QUOTABLE
Sanderson when asked if Jason Nolf's injury was indeed related to his knee: "It was elbow, shoulder, neck. I don't remember. Regardless, he's doing well. He really is. I think the scare initially was tough just because people care about him a lot obviously and we want to see him be successful and he's obviously a big part of our team."