Among all his returners entering this season, Maryland wrestling coach Alex Clemsen knew heavyweight Seth Nevills was primed for a big year.
“He knows this is his last year. I think there’s always more,” Clemsen said. “Once he made the decision to come here, his workout situation and availability changed a little bit. … He’s in better shape, he’s lighter, he’s stronger, his skillset’s sharper.”
So far, Nevills is off to a 5-0 start and has been everything Clemsen hoped for. He only failed to score bonus points in one match, which ended in a 5-2 sudden victory over Missouri’s Seth Nitzel, Intermat’s No. 20 285-pounder.
Nevills’ weight change was a big factor in his success. He’s down to 280 pounds after coming to College Park at 310.
The graduate student said tough hand fighting and strong defense are two aspects of his wrestling that he’s strengthened.
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“My defense is something I’ve struggled with a lot in my career,” Nevills said. “That’s just something I worked on a lot this summer, and it’s paying off in some of these matches.”
He displayed this improved defense in the match against Nitzel. The Missouri junior hasn’t had trouble scoring in the past two years — he’s won 73 percent of his matches and picked up bonus points in more than half of them. Still, Nevills prevented him from finding a single takedown.
Nevills’ early success has earned him respect in the national rankings. He’s ranked No. 14 by Intermat, No. 17 by FloWrestling and No. 13 in WrestleStat at 285, some of the highest marks of his collegiate career. He spent time in the top 10 at Penn State in 2021.
“I don’t really think about [rankings] too much,” Nevills said. “I only hear it and see it from people that talk about it, and so it’s not something that’s really on my mind. I’m at an age where I just go out there and take it one match at a time.”
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Maryland’s 285-pounder will be tested more in the coming months. American, Pittsburgh and South Dakota State, teams the Terps will face in November and December, all have ranked heavyweights.
Those matchups all come before Big Ten play, where Nevills will face some of the best the conference has to offer. Between Jan. 24 and Feb. 9, all four schools Maryland will compete against have heavyweights in Intermat’s top 15.
One of them is Illinois’ Luke Luffman — the first opponent Nevills wrestled as a freshman at Penn State.
Both were trying to adjust to college wrestling at the time. Now in their final years, they could meet again as two of the nation’s best.
“Even though I spent a lot more years than a lot of people in college, it goes by pretty fast,” Nevills said. “So just enjoy it while you’re in it.”
