“He’s a quick study,” head coach Tom Minkel said. “He learns fast and soaks everything up like a sponge … probably his overriding characteristic as a wrestler is that he’s a student of what’s going on.”

A three-time Michigan high school state champion at St. Johns High School, Osterman entered this season hoping to learn a lot and contribute to the team. Instead, he has established himself as a solid competitor early, placing first at both the Eastern Michigan Open and the MSU Open in the freshman/sophomore division.

Osterman won the state title in the 135-pound class at St. John’s during his senior year of high school, en route to a 37-1 overall record. Making the adjustment from the high school level to premier Big Ten opponents is no small feat, which is why Minkel said he doesn’t often wrestle true freshmen.

“It’s frustrating losing those matches with a few seconds left, but as I look back, I’m wrestling some of the best guys in the nation and only losing with a few seconds to go,” Osterman said. “It’s just a matter of looking back at the film and trying to correct those mistakes and trying not to make those at the end of the season.”

His recipe for success this season has been religiously studying film and then listening to advice from his teammates. His teammates know the feeling of youthfulness, after routinely starting up to six redshirt freshmen and sophomores in their lineup last season.

Osterman occasionally stays after practice to take advice from his teammates and work on issues that went wrong in previous meets.

“I love the sport, and I’m constantly around it,” Osterman said. “If I know that I need to work on something, I really work on it, and that’s something that I focus on until I fix it.”

Osterman has wowed the Jenison Field House crowd with several exciting matches against ranked opponents this season. In a Jan. 9 match against West Virginia, Osterman raced ahead of the Mountaineers’ No. 11 Brandon Rader with early take downs, then had to hang on after Rader recorded a take down in the final seconds for a 7-6 win that helped MSU go unbeaten against ranked West Virginia wrestlers on the night.

Osterman was 16-6 entering Big Ten play before dropping his first two conference matches this past weekend. He can continue to expect to have his hands full against Big Ten competition, as three conference wrestlers currently are ranked in the top five of his class. Still, close efforts — like his match against Prater on Sunday — figure to go a long way toward his career development.

“One thing about college is that the details decide the match,” Osterman said. “All the matches are close, it’s just the guy who makes the mistakes loses the match. … There’s a lot of little things like getting off the bottom and trying to keep someone down.”

Wrestling in the 141-pound class means following No. 1-ranked 133-pound senior Franklin Gomez during matches, and Osterman said he’s learned a lot in just a short time from last season’s national champion.

After morning runs, Gomez sometimes stays after and offers encouragement for Osterman, and No. 13-ranked 149-pound sophomore David Cheza said the two wrestlers have similar work ethic.

“I think that Osterman is a go-getter — he wrestles the whole match from start to finish and he doesn’t take breaks, and he doesn’t stop, and that’s why he’s successful,” Cheza said. “He’s talented, there’s no doubt about that, but I think his success stems from his hard work and the dedication he puts in the weight room and the hard work and the constant pressure he puts on his opponents in the match, and I think that there will only be good things coming from him.”