After recently announcing his retirement, Jason Nolf recently went on to reveal some ghosts of the wrestling past. Nolf is hands-down one of the biggest names to come out of the Nittany Lions over the years. But getting to PSU was another distraught journey. In a recent interview with FloWrestling, Nolf went on to disclose how his early days of recruitment went.

Let’s go back in time to the first date for official contact. Unlike most top recruits, Nolf seemed to not get enough calls from universities. “I think it was July 1st or whatever, the first official date that you could get contacted. I was getting a bunch of calls, so I probably wasn’t being recruited at this point,” said Nolf. And he wondered why that was. On paper and mat, he was the top recruit. It wasn’t long before the conundrum revealed itself. And the epicenter of it was yet another interview with FloWrestling.

The interview took place during Jason Nolf’s high school days, shortly after he won his third state championship. “Think that people stopped recruiting me because, uh, because I said that in the interview, and I didn’t know, like, the power of media. Like, I didn’t think that talking to you would, like, have an impact on anything.” Unfortunately, it was no small impact either.

Nolf did not instantaneously figure out why he did not get calls either. “I think my dad was reaching out to coaches, and they’re like, “I thought he was going to Cornell. Like, I thought he wanted to go to Cornell, so I’m not going to recruit him.” Oops! In the old interview, Jason Nolf had said he would have liked to go to Cornell. And that was enough for the world of recruitment to not even try for the top recruit! But Jason’s dad had the perfect response to save.

Jason’s dad, Michael Nolf, went on to tell the recruits on call, “No, he’s an idiot.” But once his dad stepped in and made the calls, things soon started looking up. “I had a couple of coaches come to visit me at home…..I was sitting at home with my dad, and—or no, I was in the car. My dad called me, and he’s like, ‘You need to start, like, taking initiative and action,’ because I didn’t—I wasn’t having any of it. I didn’t care about it. I was just focused on, like, what I was doing at that moment,” added Jason. He did not care enough to even pick up calls! That’s right, all calls went straight to voicemail!

But then came the ultimatum from his father. Jason Nolf went on to recall what his father said and disclosed, “And then he’s like, “Do you just want to be homeless for the rest of your life, live on the street?” That was the wake-up call that Jason needed. It wasn’t long after that he made his final decision. “And I was like, “I’m just going to go to Penn State.” So then I called Coach Kale, I was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to come to Penn State.’ I think he was shocked.” The decision to join in with the Nittany Lion tribe sure did work for Jason!

Bidding adieu despite the peaks!

Despite the unfortunate downfalls of the recruitment journey, Jason Nolf did not carry the bitterness of it to Penn State. Instead, he wrote a brand new chapter that now stands as his legacy. At PSU, he went on to win three NCAA titles at 157 pounds and earned his place as an All-American four times. Nolf signed his name into wrestling history by reaching the NCAA finals in each of his first three seasons. He won in St. Louis in 2017, Cleveland in 2018, and Pittsburgh in 2019.

If that wasn’t enough, Nolf also stacked up Big Ten Championships. He won gold in 2017 (Bloomington) and 2019 (Minneapolis) and a silver in 2016 (Iowa City). Nolf was on the path to join the ranks of the elite by joining Ed Ruth and Zain Retherford as Penn State’s only three-time NCAA Champions and David Taylor as the school’s only four-time finalists. Penn State was nothing short of a great journey for Nolf.

Yet, despite the great run and numerous other accolades, Jason Nolf decided to hang up his singlet. After 22 years on the mat, no amount of gold medals could keep him on the mat. The reason? “I am a child of God first, and I wrestle second,” said Nolf. As he steps away from the mats, he leaves behind a Penn legacy that will be hard to compete with.