Seth Nevills is one of the best heavyweights in college wrestling.

The graduate student is a consensus top-15 wrestler in every major media ranking. The heavyweight possesses impressive size, speed and strength for his weight class, along with a deep bag of moves to bring opponents down to the mat.

So it wasn’t a surprise on Sunday when Nevills took down No. 11 Ben Kueter, Iowa’s talented redshirt freshman 285-pounder, by ducking under him after a sprawl and taking his back for three points.

But that takedown was a significant one for Nevills — it was his first over a top-12 opponent this season. Despite ultimately losing the match in a 5-4 decision, Nevills showed that he can be competitive against the elite of the weight class.

Nevills has defeated every unranked heavyweight he’s faced this season, with most of these being dominant victories. He hopes that his mindset going into his higher-ranked matchups will help him perform just as well against the tougher competition.

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“I’d like to sit there and say that nothing really changes, but you have to respect the guys that have put in the work and have actually been at the highest level,” Nevills said. “But otherwise … it’s just wrestling. Both guys are going to step out there and they’re both going to try to do what they do. I think looking at it like that will really help.”

His first match in 2025 against a top-10 heavyweight came at Michigan, when he went up against then-No.10 Josh Heindselman. Heindselman spent most of the first period clinching with Nevills, eventually putting him in a headlock.

Heindselman took Nevills down late in the first by grabbing his leg after Maryland’s heavyweight overextended.

Nevills didn’t come close to finishing a shot the remaining two periods. Heindselman employed a sound defensive gameplan, leaning forward and sprawling whenever Nevills tried to drop down, making it difficult for Nevills to get to his legs.

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His next ranked opponent, Illinois’ then No. 10 Luke Luffman, employed a similar game plan to Heindselman’s. Luffman found the only takedown of the match in the second period, dropping down from the clinch and completing a single leg.

Nevills got a lot closer to scoring on Luffman, though. He broke out of the clinch with less than a minute left, finding a space to shoot a single leg. But Luffman sprawled to stop Nevills from finding the takedown.

Nevills has shown a capability to beat the nation’s best — last year he defeated Rutgers’ Yaraslau Slavikouski, who finished 7th at the NCAA Championships. Nevills will look to put on more performances like that down the stretch of this season.

Coach Alex Clemsen has little concern about Nevills — he said he’s a fast learner and a student of the game.

“I’d like to see my guy be a little more offensive, hopefully he can make that adjustment down the road,” Clemsen said.

Nevills wrestled more aggressively against Keuter than in previous matches, showing signs of elite play. He’ll need to find that form more consistently down the stretch of the season.

“I think Seth’s done a really good job of putting himself in position to finish his career the way he wants to,” Clemsen said.”