The Nebraska wrestling program is already a Top-5 squad in the country, but the Huskers got an extra shot in the arm a couple weeks ago when football standout Nash Hutmacher took the mat for the first time since high school.

In high school in South Dakota, Hutmacher went 166-0 and won four state titles. He pinned his final 73 opponents and was the top heavyweight recruit in the class of 2019, but he chose to pursue glory on the gridiron in college.

An honorable mention Big Ten selection at nose tackle as a junior, Hutmacher joined the wrestling team, with head football coach Matt Rhule’s approval, in early December weighing 330 pounds. Over the course of a month, “The Polar Bear” dropped 45 pounds and made the 285-pound heavyweight limit. He first took the mat for the Huskers on Jan. 6, winning his college debut via first-period pinfall over Wyoming’s Mason Ding.

In his next match, Hutmacher lost a 4-1 decision in a step-up in competition against Iowa’s Bradley Hill. Despite the setback, Nebraska coach Mark Manning has been impressed with Hutmacher from the start.

“He’s real aggressive and gives great effort. The match that he lost against Iowa he gave great effort – he went for it and was the aggressor,” Manning said. “I’d say, strategically he got beat – he didn’t get outwrestled. I thought he fought like an animal. He really went out and did his best. I was really proud of him.”

With the addition of a potential future NFL draft pick and Husker fan favorite to the room, there are now more eyeballs on the team. It was unknown when Hutmacher joined the team whether he was really going to cut and reshape his body to make 285 pounds or if he was just joining the team to practice, shed pounds and improve his athleticism. 

According to Manning, the goal has been for him to compete for the starting spot since the second he joined the team.

“We have enough work trying to develop 35 other guys,” Manning said. “We’re not going to take on ‘Hey, Matt Rhule, we’ll just do some 45-pound weight shaving for you.’ That was part of the discussion of would you want to do this, as far as wrestle.”

As for whether Hutmacher will be the guy in March at Big Tens and NCAAs, Manning said the competition between him and redshirt freshman Harley Andrews is ongoing. He also said that if Hutmacher is the guy at NCAAs, which run March 21st through the 23rd, he might just have to miss a couple spring football practices – last year they started March 20.

“The plan is we have to see if he’s going to be our guy going into Big Tens and nationals. That’s not decided yet. I guess we’ll just keep people wondering if he is,” Manning said. “We didn’t say ‘Hey, it’s your spot.’ You’ve got to earn it, and he’s in the process of doing that. Harley thinks he’s the guy, so we still have some things we’re figuring out with our team.”

Hutmacher is a big presence in more ways than one, and his transition to the wrestling room has been one he’s taken with humility, according to Manning.

“He’s a little bit more of a quieter leader in our room. I just think he’s taking it in,” Manning said. “He’s relishing the opportunity that he’s on our team because he knows we got a lot of good wrestlers. He’s just adding to that. He’s blue-collar and I just like his approach.”

Huskers Take First Loss to Iowa

This past weekend, Nebraska suffered a tough 22-10 dual loss at home to Iowa, dropping seven matches. The Huskers suffered losses in toss-up matches between #1 Drake Ayala and #5 Caleb Smith at 125, #2 Jared Franek and #3 Peyton Robb at 157, Patrick Kennedy and #19 Bubba Wilson at 174, #13 Zach Glazier and #14 Silas Allred at 197, and the Hutmacher loss to Hill.

According to Manning, watching his guys take those tough losses and go through those emotions is one of the toughest parts of the job.

“As a coach, it’s tough. You don’t get sleep and you think about it all the time. You want me to be honest? You don’t get a lot of sleep,” Manning said. “The deal is that it’s all about just coming to practice and getting better and loving these guys up and getting them where they can perform to be their best and realize how good they can be. We have a really good team with good guys on our team.”

As for takeaways from the Iowa dual, Manning saw some things that obviously need to be cleaned up but he also saw some things he liked. For example, Wilson scored the first takedown in a 9-5 decision loss to Kennedy, a guy who beat Wilson 12-4 by major a year ago when they were both at 165 pounds. 

“I think at the end of periods, riding people out and keeping people down longer – we could have rode better,” Manning said. “I think Bubba Wilson wrestled real hard, he just let up on his hand fight there in the last minute of the match and gave up a late takedown. He wrestled a tough match. Last year, that guy majored him, this year he was a takedown away from beating him. I think he’s made good strides.”

As for Allred, Manning was unabashed that the sophomore struggled in his match against Glazier, an 11-2 major decision for the Hawkeye, but he’s confident he’ll get back to form and be a postseason contender again.

“Silas didn’t have a good match, and everyone’s talking about it – I get emails,” Manning said. “Allred is a young guy – he’s a sophomore and still learning his way. He’s not up to the gold standard yet, so he’s figuring it out, but he’s got it in him. That kid (Glazier) did a good job, he wrestled really good and Silas didn’t wrestle good. We’ll wrestle him again in March, and March is when it counts.”

As a coach, Manning hates losing, but he always has his focus on peaking in March. A dual win is nice and he always wants to compete to win, but that doesn’t mean the postseason focus isn’t the priority. It also doesn’t mean the Huskers will make wholesale changes based on a lost dual in January.

“I look at it like this as a coach – (if) we beat Iowa 30-9 and everyone thinks we’re sweet, but it doesn’t matter one damn thing if we don’t perform in March,” Manning said.

As for positives from the Iowa dual, Nebraska saw wins from #1 Ridge Lovett at 149, a 17-5 major by #3 Lenny Pinto at 184, and a 10-4 upset by #25 Jacob Van Dee over then-#9 Brody Teske at 133 pounds. 

“He was aggressive the whole match,” Manning said of redshirt freshman Van Dee. “He’s figuring out how to win at the highest level. After another seven, eight weeks of training and him doing it more and more each match, he’s going to be where he needs to be come March.”

As for Lovett, Manning loves what he sees in his national title contender.

“Ridge is Steady Eddie. He’s super competitive and has big goals for the end of the year,” Manning said. “He’s got a good mentality. Whoever’s next, if the guy is ranked #2 or #3 or #35, he don’t care – he wants to go beat him. He’s just got the right attitude and approach.”