Gable Steveson: Widening the Gap
2/11/2021
Since Gable Steveson began his collegiate career, he has always wanted to be the best, striving not only to win matches, but to win them decisively, so that he can find himself at the top of the podium at the NCAA Tournament in March.
.@GSteveson got this fall quicker than we typed out this tweet.
— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) February 6, 2021
Just ridiculous. ?? @GopherWrestling@trackwrestling // @ncaawrestling pic.twitter.com/Z4U6e0RE5b
During Steveson’s freshman year, he came close to that goal, accomplishing a 35-2 record and becoming an All-American, but two losses to eventual national champion Anthony Cassar of Penn State kept him from both B1G and NCAA gold.
In his sophomore season, Steveson dominated his weight class, going 15-0 and avenging his B1G finals loss by winning his first conference championship. Before the NCAA tournament, Gable was a clear-cut favorite to win the national championship. That was, until they were cancelled.
Now, in his third year as the Gopher heavyweight, Gable Steveson has looked to prove that he is the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the country regardless of weight class, and luckily for him, he knows exactly what it will take to give him that recognition - winning the Dan Hodge Trophy.
The Dan Hodge Trophy
Often considered as the “Heisman of Wrestling”, the Dan Hodge trophy is given to the best collegiate wrestler in every season It is awarded based on criteria such as record, dominance, quality of competition, and past credentials.
There has only been one Hodge trophy winner in the history of Minnesota Wrestling, an accolade that belongs to former Gopher great Jayson Ness. During Ness’s Hodge-winning campaign, he went a perfect 31-0, while pinning 61% of his opponents. His senior season ended that year with a national championship, a moment that Gopher wrestling fans have yet to forget.
There have only been three heavyweights to win the Hodge trophy, which includes Cal State-Bakersfield’s Stephen Neal in 1999. Neal went a staggering 44-0 that season, showcasing one of the most dominant seasons in heavyweight history. That award-winning season also had Golden Gopher ties, as Neal beat former Gopher Brock Lesnar in the NCAA finals by a narrow 3-2 decision victory.
Now, Gable Steveson looks to bring his own style of dominance to the mat, and become the second Hodge trophy winner in school history, and in his third season, the junior has performed better than ever before.
Gable By The Numbers
The career of Gable Steveson will inevitably go down in history as one of the best - not only for the University of Minnesota, but for college wrestling as a whole.
He has asserted his dominance over the heavyweight division since he first toed the line at Maturi Pavilion. Already, Gable holds the school’s greatest win percentage of all-time, tallying 57 wins over the course of his career, with 68% of those victories earning bonus points.
YEAR | WINS | LOSSES | BONUS% | PINS | TF | MD |
FR | 35 | 2 | 60% | 4 | 8 | 9 |
SO | 15 | 0 | 73% | 4 | 1 | 6 |
JR | 7 | 0 | 100% | 2 | 4 | 1 |
TOTAL | 57 | 2 | 68% | 10 | 13 | 16 |
As for this season, Gable Steveson has been nothing short of spectacular, starting the season 7-0, with three decisive victories over current top-10 heavyweights and a 100% bonus rate.
However, it is not until we dive into the numbers where we can really understand the dominance that he has displayed over the course of his third season in the Maroon & Gold.
YEAR | POINTS/MATCH | TAKEDOWNS/MATCH | MARGIN OF VICTORY* |
FR | 11.5 | 3.8 | +8.7 |
SO | 11.1 | 4.5 | +8.2 |
JR | 15.3 | 5.7 | +14.4 |
| *margin of victory calculated from matches that did not end by pin | |||
In his seven-match sample size, Gable Steveson has shown new levels of dominance this season, that even he has never seen before. Steveson’s offensive output has increased dramatically, having the highest points and takedowns per match of his career, and in doing so, he has left his competition in the dust, separating himself from each opponent he has faced so far.
But throughout all of the success that Gable Steveson has seen in his collegiate days, the one criticism that he has often received is that he gasses out late in matches, hanging on to victories instead of pushing the pace.
This season, however, that criticism has seemed more like a myth, as Gable has seen an increase in average points scored not only in the third period, but in every period. No matter what time in the match it is, Gable Steveson has been putting points on the board, and scoring them at a high rate.
YEAR | POINTS/1ST PERIOD | POINTS/2ND PERIOD* | POINTS/3RD PERIOD* |
FR | 5.3 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
SO | 4.9 | 3.4 | 5.2 |
JR | 6.9 | 5.4 | 10.6 |
| *averages calculated from matches that reached 2nd and 3rd periods | |||
ICYMI: Gable Steveson was featured on BTN's "On The Mat" series.
— Minnesota Wrestling (@GopherWrestling) January 25, 2021
Click the link to check it out for yourself!https://t.co/kkdJeMoan8
What’s Next?
Perhaps the best performances that Gable Steveson will showcase this season are yet to come. This weekend, the Golden Gophers head to Madison to take on Wisconsin, where Gable is slated for another Top-10 showdown against No. 8 Trent Hillger.
Shortly after will come the B1G Championships, followed by the NCAA Championships, where Steveson will have the opportunity to face his toughest competition of the season and show the wrestling world just how far ahead of the pack he really is.
For Gable however, the mindset has always been one match at a time. As Steveson has always said, the time will come for those chances to become an NCAA champion and maybe even a Dan Hodge Trophy winner.
Until then, he will focus on the one mission that he has stuck to throughout this entire season thus far:
Widening the Gap.
