There’s been a lot of talk about 133 pounds being college wrestling’s best weight class this year, but Nebraska’s #8 Jacob Van Dee often finds himself on the outside in a conversation that centers around guys like Lucas Byrd, Ben Davino, Marcus Blaze, Ryan Crookham and Jax Forrest.

“Jake is very aware of where he sits in the public eye,” Nebraska coach Mark Manning said. “We’re very aware, and he’s very aware.”

After finishing seventh at the NCAA Championships last year, Van Dee has quietly been putting together his best season yet. The Husker junior is 12-1 on the season with his only loss coming to America’s Raymond Lopez at the Navy Classic, where Van Dee got caught on his back with less than 30 seconds left in a match he was leading 9-2.

Since that loss, Van Dee has won 10 straight matches, including a 9-0 mark in duals. His best wins so far have come against #14 Ethan Berginc (8-1), #18 Julian Farber (11-4), #20 Ethan Oakley (5-1), and a 4-1 win over Oklahoma State’s Ronnie Ramirez. 

“I’ve seen Jake really grow in his wrestling knowledge of what he can do best,” Manning said. “He knows where to be, and he’s developed a good top and bottom game that’s really helped him on his feet.”

Van Dee hasn’t had the opportunity to face the best in the country yet this year, but he’ll face three of the best in his next three matches – #11 Drake Ayala, #2 Davino and #6 Blaze. Last season, Van Dee fell to Ayala 4-2 in the dual.

“Jake is aiming high, so he knows he has to wrestle real good here coming up because he has a lot of really good competition,” Manning said. “Jake and Ayala have wrestled, so there’s a lot of familiarity. He hasn’t wrestled the Ohio State kid, and he hasn’t wrestled Marcus Blaze. They’ve got to wrestle us, and that’s the way I see it. At the end of the day, we know Ayala is really good and really tough. He’s going to be no pushover, and you got to earn it. We have a lot of respect for Drake Ayala.”

For a guy who has previously been inconsistent at times throughout his career, Van Dee credits his experience and maturity for this season’s consistency. After overthinking things in the past, Van Dee has adopted a simpler mental approach this year.

“If I begin to feel like I’m an inconsistent wrestler, then that’s who I’m going to become, so I’m just keeping positive thoughts in my mind that I’m a consistent wrestler, and I wrestle with pace,” Van Dee said. “Now, it’s more of a simplified approach that I’m going to just go out there and fight for seven minutes and see what happens.”

One skill set that Van Dee has always had is his defense. He’s only given up bonus points four times in his 75 career matches and never lost via technical fall. This season, he’s given up just one takedown going into this weekend.

According to Van Dee, that defensive approach has at times come at the detriment of his offense, something he’s been working on improving this season.

“I don’t want to be that defensive wrestler, but defense is an important part of wrestling. I used to be a really defensive wrestler, and that’s kind of who I became when I was first coming into college,” Van Dee said. “Now I’m trying to become an offensive wrestler and go out there and score my points. I need to be that guy that lets it fly no matter what, so those sticky guys shouldn’t impact my wrestling like they do. I just need to wrestle through that.”

Out of his last six matches, Van Dee has scored bonus points just once when he majored Purdue’s Blake Boarman 13-2. This past weekend, Van Dee beat Minnesota’s Brandon Morvari 1-0 and wasn’t happy with his offensive output in that match despite his opponent trying not to engage.

“Those are just sticky guys who want to just slow me down,” Van Dee said. “I’ve got to learn to wrestle through that and get to my offense. I wrestled with pace this weekend, but I didn’t wrestle very offensively. It’s all a learning experience.”

Regarding his tough upcoming dual slate, Van Dee says he takes the same approach to every match regardless of who toes the line across from him.

“(I have) more of a next-guy-up attitude. You could throw me against King Kong, and I’m going to try to take the same approach I take to every match,” Van Dee said. “Nothing changes between matches. Yeah, there are probably going to be tougher kids out there, but my approach stays the same. There are no easy matches in the Big Ten.

“It’s definitely exciting to go out there and compete against this really good competition, but I’m just trying to not overcomplicate it and stay the course I’ve been on all year.”

Freshmen Get Invaluable Experience At Minnesota

In Nebraska’s 20-12 win over #11 Minnesota Friday night, both #3 Brock Hardy and #12 Chance Lamer were out of the lineup. Hardy’s absence was to keep him fresh, but Lamer was out of the lineup with an illness and will be back this weekend.

In their place, Nebraska sent out a pair of true freshmen at 141 and 149 pounds. Jake Hockaday saw his first dual match of the season after missing the first semester while working his way back from offseason knee surgery. At 149, Nikade Zinkin wrestled in his sixth dual of the year after filling in for Lamer when he was ineligible to begin the year.

Hockaday dropped a 7-2 decision to #9 Vance Vombaur, while Zinkin fell to #26 Drew Roberts 6-3.

“They both wrestled really hard, and it’s good to get them matches in a tough environment like that on the road – they’re not used to that,” Manning said. “In high school, you don’t have that type of environment, so I think it was really good for both those guys, and I hope they can make some good progression from that match moving forward.”

According to Manning, the two freshmen learned a lot while wrestling two senior veterans.

“They've got to finish quicker. Nikade had the guy reversed a couple times, but he didn’t capitalize because he could have caught the guy on his back. Nikade knows that he needs to get his offense off,” Manning said. “(Hockaday) wrestled really tough and was in on a takedown, but he let the kid kick out and just didn’t finish. Those are the details because in high school, you get that every time, but in college guys are going to fight you tooth and nail for every point, and you got to earn it. That was a good learning moment for Jake.”

Manning is excited about what they’ve got in Hockaday, the first four-time Indiana state champion since Jesse Mendez accomplished the feat in 2023.

“Jake has a lot of tools in his toolbox, and that’s what young guys figure out is ‘How do I use those tools?’ That’s the magic potion to be able to unleash all the tools and add to the toolbox,” Manning said. “He’s a really good athlete and he’s really fast. The more strength he can put on his frame, he’s going to be even better.”

Nebraska’s Brutal Stretch

As already mentioned, #5 Nebraska will host #6 Iowa Friday night before the #2 Buckeyes come to town Sunday afternoon. The Huskers then hit the road on Friday, Jan. 30 to face #1 Penn State.

“Yeah, we know we’re going to wrestle a good team, and we’re going to wrestle a really good team on Sunday. Just one at a time and focus on Friday night and have fun,” Manning said of his message to his team. “These guys are looking forward to it. It’s going to be a battle, and we’ve prepared for it. (Iowa) got beat by Penn State, and they’re going to come in with an edge, so we’ve got to bring it on Friday night and wrestle well.”

Nebraska’s home attendance has been on the uptick for years, making the Devaney Center one of the more formidable environments to wrestle in for opponents. This season, Nebraska set a program record with 7,094 fans in attendance against Oklahoma State on Dec. 21.

With the Iowa and Ohio State duals at home, Manning thinks that the crowd can be an advantage this weekend.

“Our crowds have been amazing, and our fan support is at another level right now,” he said. “I think we can add to that, and there’s a lot of momentum for us right now. I think we need to just keep it rolling.”