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deavors. In April he won a spot on the U.S. Senior World Greco-Roman Team at 75 kilograms. He'll begin school this sum- mer and will be prepared to wrestle col- legiately this fall. He'll also be a member of the Army ROTC. Additional members of Penn State's Class of 2017 include: James Hoeg of Matituck (N.Y.). His school's first state champ, Hoeg went 51-2 as a senior and finished his career at 206-23. He projects as a 197-pounder. Richie McClanahan of Panama City Beach (Fla.) is also expected to be on next season's roster. He finished his high school career with a record of 243-12, with 143 varsity pins. Most recently he competed at 138, where he placed third at the state tournament after winning it the year before. Rounding out the current group of dec- larations is Joey Blumer of Kiski (Pa.) Area, who went 43-7 in his senior year and projects at 149 or 157. ■ SPECIAL SECTION >> NEWCOMERS OF INFLUENCE I t was one of the country's toughest tournaments for high school wrestlers. Coaching Seth Nevills were two of the toughest wrestlers in college. Wrestling at FloNationals March 31- April 2, Nevills had two familiar faces in his corner. One was his brother, current Penn State All-America heavyweight Nick Nevills. The other was 157-pound national champion Jason Nolf. Together, they coached Seth to the 285-pound title, while also reinforcing his future college destination. "Nick and Jason were awesome coaches," Seth Nevills said. "Coming from that kind of a program, you just get to see through their words what is going to be expected of you, and it's just awe- some for them to keep telling me to score points when you're tired. It's something I like." A few weeks after that national com- petition, Nevills announced via Twitter that he would follow in the footsteps of brother Nick and Nolf, verbally commit- ting to Penn State. A native of Clovis, Calif., Seth is the youngest of four boys, all of whom are Division I wrestlers. The eldest, Zach, just completed his senior season at Stanford and qualified for his first NCAA tournament. Nick is the second- oldest, followed by A.J., who verbally committed to Penn State in the Class of 2016 and spent his first season as a grayshirt, training with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He has since announced that he'll head back to California and wrestle collegiately for Fresno State starting next season. Through his brothers' experiences at Penn State, Seth has been able to get a firsthand look at life in University Park, having made extended visits during the summer, starting when Nick first joined the team almost three years ago. "When A.J. was in high school we would go out there during the summer and we would hang out with Nick for a while and explore the Penn State campus and wrestle a little bit, and I just kind of fell in love with the place," Nevills said. "Ever since my freshman year, I've just been in love with the place. I've been in love with the program and it's taken me here to my commitment." For almost three years, Nevills has known that Penn State would likely be his future choice, but it wasn't until recently that he began finalizing the decision. As the 10th-ranked wrestler in the Class of 2018 and the second-ranked heavyweight in the country, according to FloWrestling.com, Nevills had suitors besides Penn State who recruited him for wrestling. But any courtship was short-lived, as most coaches figured that his connections to PSU would ulti- mately lead him there. What gave him additional pause before committing to PSU was a possible shot at football. As a standout offensive line- man for Clovis High, he received some interest from Division I schools, but in the end his pursuits on the wrestling mat, his association with PSU's wrestling program and his ambitions within the sport won out. "There were a few schools in there for wrestling, but I think everybody just kind of assumed that I was going to Penn State, so there wasn't a whole lot of ac- tivity," Nevills said, opting not to iden- tify the teams that showed interest. "There are a few schools that [tried] but not too much. Everybody already kind of thought I was going to Penn State. Then football was in there for a little bit. It was fun for my sophomore and junior year, but I always loved wrestling more. That's what I want to do and my goals are all for wrestling." One of his more immediate aspirations is to conclude his high school career with a fourth consecutive state champi- onship and to continue his undefeated run. He claimed his third title as a junior, winning all 37 matches by pin. He has yet to be beaten in a California high school match. Next year, however, he won't necessar- ily be as fixated on extending his pin streak. Rather, he'll be working to be- come a more well-rounded grappler and to expand on his repertoire of takedown maneuvers. "For my senior year, I think I'm going to score a lot more points," Nevills said. "A lot of my matches last year, I would take them down and pin them just to keep that streak alive, but for my senior year I think I'm going to try to score a lot more points on my feet and just get in better shape." Nevills is the fourth recruit to join Penn State's Class of 2018. Also verbally com- mitted to PSU are Gavin Teasdale of Jef- ferson-Morgan (Pa.), Travis Wittlake of Marshfield (Ore.), Roman Bravo-Young of Sunnyside (Ariz.) and Joe Lee of Evansville (Ind.). Nevills (285), Teasdale (126), Wittlake (170) and Bravo-Young (132) are all ranked among the top two at their respective weight classes. –T.O. Another Nevills brother headlines Class of 2018

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