Blue White Illustrated

a 5-3 win over Solanco's Thomas Haines, who had previously been verbally com- mitted to Penn State. Both before and aAer the dual, the trio met up, shook hands, exchanged phone numbers and talked about what's to come. Because, really, that was just the be- ginning. There's nothing that's going to match the thrill of a victory, especially when it's against one of the country's best, but they de=nitely took something else from that event. Nickal said recently, "AAer I met those guys, I noticed that right o? the bat they have the right mindset, similar to mine. Their goals are really high and that's what I think is really important. We all have the same goals in mind – winning national titles as individuals and as a team. So I think de=nitely us three and the other re- cruits, I'm sure, we'll just be able to feed o? each other." Similar mindsets, yes, but Nolf, Nickal and Nevills all bring separate skill sets to the Nittany Lions' roster. And they'll help solidify di?erent weight classes at which graduation has impacted Penn State or will impact it aAer the coming season. When rankings become o@cial, they should also place Penn State's as one of the top two recruiting classes in the coun- try. According to IntermatWrestle.com, Nevills (285) is the No. 4 recruit in the country, Nickal (174/184) is at No. 5 and Nolf (149-165) is No. 7. Meanwhile, fellow Penn State recruit Shakur Rasheed is ranked No. 56, and the Lions are also ex- pected to add Anthony Cassar (197) for the 2014-15 season. Meanwhile, Gary Din- more (165/74) is expected to join the team for the 2015-16 season. Overall, Penn State's recruiting class is challenged for the No. 1 spot by Ohio State, which signed three top-10 recruits, including Haines, a four-time state champ at Solanco, and Oklahoma State, which signed =ve top-65 recruits, but only one who made the top 10. That top-10 recruit is highly touted Pennsylvanian Chance Marsteller (157-174), another four-time state champion who initially committed to Penn State before >ipping to the Cow- boys in November. Iowa signed one in the top 10, two more in the top 65 and is ex- pecting six in the full incoming class. Penn State's recruits welcome the com- petition. "If other teams get other good guys, I like challenges like that," Nevills said. "I like when it's close." Blue White Illustrated takes a further look at Penn State's Class of 2014 here, with one-on-one conversations with the three top signees – Nolf, Nickal and Nevills. Or, as they've come to be known on Internet message boards, "The Law Firm." JASON NOLF 149-165 | Rural Valley, Pa. | Kittaning RESUME 176-1 career record, including a 44-0 mark as a senior… IntermatWres- tle.com's No. 7 overall recruit... FloWrestling.com's No. 8 pound-for- pound high school wrestler in the coun- try… No. 1 by FloWrestling and No. 2 In- termat at 145 pounds… Four-time PIAA Class AA =nalist and three-time state champion, including Outstanding Wrestler honors in 2014… Four-time WPIAL cham- pion… (Pittsburgh) Trib Total Media's Wrestler of the Year… Dapper Dan Team USA selection… Cli? Keen USA Dream Team selection… Also considered Cornell, Iowa and Stanford WHAT'S NEW? "Postseason, I wanted to pin everybody – section through states. And I pinned everybody up until the quar- ter=nals of states. Then I won 14-6 or something. Then I pinned the next two kids in the semis and =nals, but that kinda aggravated me or kinda made me mad because I wanted to pin everybody." WHY PSU? "I look up to a lot of the Penn State guys and the way they wrestle. I like watching them wrestle and score a lot of points. That's kinda my style. I've developed that style aAer watching them. Yeah, I just like to dominate people." Nolf also said location "was a big factor and the fact that my parents can just drive up the road and see me wrestle. There are a lot of things that made me choose Penn State." COLLEGE OUTLOOK "I'm going in there expecting to dominate and just to win every match – that's my mindset." Nolf added that 149 is the lowest weight at which he would start his college career, and he thinks he could end up at 165. "My dad is pretty big, so I have some big shoes to grow into," he said. POTENTIAL OF INCOMING CLASS "I think it's great. We have a lot of potential to just dominate, especially once we get up into the workout room. I think we'll get a lot better, especially with all those guys up there that they have now, so I'm excited." TIM'S TAKE I talked about this with Nolf, and he agrees: His growth pattern has been very similar to that of two-time NCAA champ David Taylor, who started high school as a 103-pounder and =nished his college career at 165. Nolf wrestled at 103 as a freshman, 120 as a sophomore, 132 as a junior and 145 as a senior, and he wrestled a couple bouts all the way up at 160. He weighs about 158 pounds currently and said 149 could be an option for his =rst couple years on campus, but 157 would be more likely. BO NICKAL 174-197 | Allen, Texas | Allen RESUME 181-7 career record, including a 29-0 mark as a senior… IntermatWres- tle.com's No. 5 overall recruit... FloWrest- ling.com's No. 4 pound-for-pound high school wrestler in the country… No. 2 at 170 pounds by FloWrestling/Inter- matWrestle… Three-time Class 5A indi- vidual state champion… Helped lead Allen to four consecutive Class 5A team tour- nament and dual meet titles… 2013 FILA Cadet national champion… Dapper Dan Team USA selection… Cli? Keen USA Dream Team selection… Also considered Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma WHAT'S NEW? "I went up to Dapper Dan and got to wrestle the top Pa. kid, who was pretty tough. Then aAer that we went up to Oklahoma City and watched the NCAA tournament. We got to watch Penn State win their fourth in a row, which was awesome, and then we got to go to the aAer-party and stu? and meet a bunch of people. That was great. [April 12-13] I was in Georgia for the USA Dream Team Classic. That was kinda weird. It was ac- tually my last high school match ever." WHY PSU? "The atmosphere of the college campus and stu? was just amazing for my [o@cial] visit in the fall. I got to go to the football game [against Michigan], and it was one of the coolest experiences in my life. I got to go down on the =eld with 110,000 people there. I was chilling with the wrestlers and we were maybe 10 rows up in the end zone. It was crazy." COLLEGE OUTLOOK "Really whatever [weight class] is best for the team is where I'll be. That's pretty much the bottom line. If they need me at 174, 184 or 197 – whatever is best for the team." POTENTIAL OF INCOMING CLASS "When you get a lot of people together with common goals like that, and know how to work hard and prepare for it, we're bound to have a lot of success. So I'm just really excited to see what we can do up there." TIM'S TAKE Nickal oAen draws com- parisons to two-time Penn State national champ Quentin Wright. Nickal, who stands 6-foot-1, is built like Wright, but he also has a repertoire of throws, tosses and leg attacks from the neutral position. His father, Jason, sees the similarities. He also says Bo's low leg attacks are in>uenced by Taylor. But as Jason acknowledged, "I just hope that he can live up to that, and so does he. You get compared to people like that, that's quite a compliment. You just hope someday that you can wrestle like him." NICK NEVILLS 285 | Clovis, Calif. | Clovis RESUME 200-5 career record, including a 50-0 mark as a senior… IntermatWres- tle.com's No. 4 overall recruit... FloWrest- ling.com's No. 6 pound-for-pound high school wrestler in the country… No. 1 at 285 pounds by FloWrestling/Intermat… The only heavyweight in the 42-year his- tory of the California Interscholastic Fed- eration to win three state championships… Helped lead Clovis to four consecutive team tournament titles… Tallied most pins (146) ever by a California wrestler, including 46 as a senior… The (Fresno) Bee's 2013-14 Wrestler of the Year… Dap- per Dan Team USA selection… Cli? Keen USA Dream Team selection (did not com- pete)… Also considered Ohio State and Stanford, which is where his older brother Zach wrestles WHAT'S NEW? "I was asked to do the [Cli? Keen USA Dream Team dual] in Georgia but I couldn't go. I was just ready for a break from competition. I just stayed home and hung out with my family. I did get online to watch Nolf and Nickal wrestle. It was really awesome to see them be monsters out there. I did that and then really I've just been training and working out. Getting in shape so I can go in right away and start taking Cael and Casey down. It's a big tall order, but to take [Jake] Varner down, too, and start com- peting from right when I get there. It'll N E W C O M E R S O F I N F L U E N C E ON TOP OF THE WORLD Nickal went 181- 7 during his high school career and won three Texas state championships. He was undefeat- ed as a senior at Allen High. Ray Shoaf/WrestlingTexas.com

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