Blue White Illustrated

A ;er battling injuries for most of his time at Penn State, Nick Nevills at last made his Rec Hall debut Feb. 13 against Michigan State, posting a 5-2 victory. His mom, Kerri Nevills, made the trip from Clovis, Calif., just to be there as the Lions claimed a share of the Big Ten regular- season championship. However, Nick's father, Wayne, stayed back on the West Coast to watch his two younger sons qualify for spots in the state tournament. One of those sons – A.J. Nevills – is getting set to join his big brother at PSU next season. On Jan. 26, A.J. announced via Twitter that he would be following his brother's lead and continuing his wrestling career with the Lions. He signed as part of a ceremony at Clovis (Calif.) West High School the following week. As Nevills explained in a recent interview, he didn't commit to the Lions simply to follow in his brother's footsteps. Having him in State College, however, did a9ord A.J. the opportunity to get an extended look at Penn State over summer vacation, during which he found his own reasons to attend the East Coast university. "I had no idea that my future was going to take me there," said A.J., who also con- sidered attending Northern Iowa and Drex- el. "It was probably in the summer [that the decision was made]. This past summer I went, me and my little brother [Class of 2018 heavyweight prospect Seth Nevills], and visited for about two weeks. We went and looked at it and lived with [Nick] and Jason [Nolf]. We just hung out with him. I got to know the team and I got to know the coaches, and it's really just a place I could see myself living for 8ve years, so I fell in love with the place." The Nevills family also hosted members of the Penn State coaching sta9, including Cael Sanderson, in their Clovis home for a recruiting visit, and A.J. returned to Penn- sylvania this past fall for an o:cial visit. Between his initial extended stay and then when he came back for an autumn weekend on Penn State's dime, A.J. ulti- mately settled on the idea that he would travel across the country for his college career. Not only because his older brother is already there, but because he felt like he could form similar relationships with his future teammates. "The main thing that really stuck with me is how everybody is friends with each other on the team and how everyone was hanging out like they were brothers on the team," he said. "That was so special to me, and that I won't forget. Even me and my little brother, they treated us like we were part of the family, and I loved that." A.J. is a two-time California state place- winner with a runner-up 8nish last year at 182 pounds. He started this season at 220, a weight at which he was ranked No. 11 in the country, before recently dropping to 195. Nevills projects as a 197-pounder in college. ■ have been called upon to 8ll in for injured starters and have helped keep the team on top. Still, if Sanderson had his way, the Lions wouldn't be having to improvise quite so extensively. "It is frustrating," he said. "As they say, adversity is the way. You can't go through a season and think you are going to just skip through any kind of obstacles. ... It stinks; you don't want injury. You just want guys to wrestle. We want our best and we want to wrestle [opponents] at their best, and it would be nice if nobody got hurt. Unfortunately, that's just not the case, and that's part of college athletics. It's part of sports in general, so you just make the most of it. I think if you are healthy, it should give you a reason to be more grateful about the opportunity to go out there and wrestle." ■ Another Nevills brother headed to Penn State | FUTURE LION A.J. Nevills (left) poses with younger brother Seth at Clovis West High in Califor- nia. A.J. com- mitted to the Nittany Lions in February and will join older brother Nick at Penn State this fall. Photo cour- tesy of the Nevills family

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