When junior Nick Simmons faced Indiana senior Joe Dubuque last year, he walked away with a win on his way to earning the title of Big Ten wrestling champion.
This weekend, No. 3 Simmons will once again encounter Dubuque, with even bigger stakes.
Dubuque carries the No. 1 ranking and is the defending NCAA champion, and if Simmons wins, he could earn a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championship.
Simmons is in the midst of an undefeated wrestling season. He currently sits at 29-0 in the 125-pound weight class entering this weekend's Big Ten Championship.
A victory over Dubuque, combined with his Feb. 23 victory over No. 2 Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma, would give Simmons plenty of momentum heading into the NCAA Championship March 16-18 in Oklahoma City.
"(Winning the Big Ten Championship) would keep a good boost going into the NCAAs," Simmons said. "I've been wrestling a lot lately and I'll try to just continue that through the Big Ten and carry it on through the NCAAs."
Last year, Simmons finished fourth at the NCAA Championship, losing a sudden-victory decision in the semifinals. Anything short of the championships this year will be considered a disappointment, said Simmons, who still has a year of eligibility left.
MSU head coach Tom Minkel said Simmons has the mental capabilities to bring home the championship.
"He's one of those kids who kind of thrives on high-level competition," he said. "He doesn't get worried, he doesn't get stressed and he just really has that mindset that's important to be a championship wrestler."
In addition to that mental makeup of a championship wrestler, Simmons has the physical attributes to excel.
"Most wrestlers are kind of short and he's tall and rangy, so immediately he poses problems for wrestlers because it's an unconventional body type," Minkel said about Simmons' 5-foot-10 frame, adding that Simmons has been able to develop unique moves because of his unique size.
He is also aggressive and always going for the pin, putting his opponent on the defensive, Minkel added.
These unique moves are what puts Simmons on a different level than other wrestlers, according to MSU assistant coach Chris Williams, a former All-American MSU wrestler.
"He's got a lot of tools; he's not one-dimensional," he said. "It's hard for people to figure him out because he can do a lot of different things."
Love at first pins
Simmons was only 5 when his dad introduced him and his brother Andy Simmons, also an MSU wrestler, to the sport. Even then, Simmons was impressing those who saw him, including Minkel.
"When he was maybe around 8, I knew he'd be special," Minkel said. "Already then they were wrestling a lot. They just wrestled everywhere, all over the country."
By the time Nick and Andy graduated from Williamston High School, they had compiled two very impressive prep careers ever. Both finished undefeated, Nick at 211-0 and Andy at 219-0, and were four-year high school All-Americans and four-year state champions.
Once Simmons arrived on campus, the coaches knew right away he was a standout wrestler.
"Right when he first came in as a true freshman, I knew he was a competitor. There was something about him that he refused to lose and when he did lose he made adjustments," said Williams, who has been working with the Simmons brothers since Nick was in ninth grade.
"I knew right away, right when he got to college, that he was going to be successful."
While the coaches are quick to praise him and discuss what makes him so talented, Simmons is just as quick to deflect the spotlight away from himself.
"I just kind of do what I have to do and don't let other things bother me too much," Simmons said.
Olympic-sized goals
During an hour-long practice Wednesday, Simmons displayed the calm demeanor and aggressiveness Minkel spoke of. He went through most of the drills with a relaxed approach, but as practice wore on inside the hot, humid IM Sports-West room, the intensity of the drills increased. Instantly, Simmons picked up his intensity as his sweatshirt picked up more and more sweat.
Simmons has used his physical and mental tools to excel in wrestling beyond at MSU. He took a redshirt during the 2003-2004 season to participate in the Pan-American Games, where he won gold, and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, where he finished fifth in qualifying for the 2004 Athens Games.
"It helped fine-tune some of my wrestling," Simmons said. "International competition is the best way to grow in the sport and it helped me critique a lot of things I was doing wrong."
Although he was unable to earn a spot at Athens, Simmons has his sights set on the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
"The main goal is the Olympics," he said. "But the NCAA is the first goal for the next couple of weeks."
