Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — On Wednesday afternoon, five days after a rare loss on the wrestling mat, Nebraska's Robert Kokesh finished his one-on-one workout with NU assistant Bryan Snyder, put on his headphones, climbed on to a stationary bike and started to pedal.
Not in the mood for chatting, Kokesh began putting virtual miles on the bike and pedaled away from last Friday's 7-3 defeat at the hands of Iowa's Mike Evans. It was the first loss in a dual all year and just the third defeat overall for the Huskers' No. 7-rated 165-pounder, who hasn't seen many black marks on what has been a sterling redshirt freshman season.
It's a feeling Snyder could empathize with. The NU assistant was himself a four-time All-American at Nebraska while holding the program's best-ever winning percentage. Snyder went 136-11 with two national runner-up finishes as a Husker, and he said Kokesh is talented enough that losing is something he probably won't have to get used to.
"He takes all of his losses hard. That's just what you get when you get a kid that invests a lot in his wrestling, and wins and losses mean a lot to him," Snyder said. "I was the same way. The guys who are really invested take the losses to heart. When you put all your mental and physical energy into one thing and you don't perform up to expectations, then obviously you're going to take it hard."
Kokesh and the rest of the No. 8-ranked Huskers will get a chance to rebound this weekend with a pair of conference duals. After having a 10-dual win streak snapped by the Hawkeyes, Nebraska (10-1, 1-1 Big Ten) will travel to Indiana (6-4, 0-4) for a 6 p.m. matchup Friday before returning home on Sunday to face Purdue (6-7, 1-3) at 1 p.m. at the NU Coliseum.
Bouncing back hasn't been an issue for Kokesh so far this year. He has already won rematches against the first two opponents who handed him a loss. After a 6-2 loss to then-No. 2 Shane Onufer of Wyoming in November, Kokesh earned a 5-0 victory at the Cliff Keen Invitational in December.
That win came a week after Kokesh got payback on the same day against Northern Colorado's Stephen Burback, who pinned Kokesh on the morning of Dec. 2 only to be handed a 3-2 defeat in the rematch that afternoon.
"He has a lot of the characteristics we want on our team," Nebraska coach Mark Manning said. "He displays those traits well, and he's a big part of our program moving forward. His work ethic. His hard-nosed competitiveness. He's going to become a better and better wrestler. You don't coach tough. He's a tough guy."
Kokesh showcased that toughness a year ago when he compiled one of the most dominant redshirt seasons in Husker history. The Wagner, S.D., native went 34-1 with 29 bonus-point victories and a team-best 19 pins.
Even his lone loss came with an asterisk when Kokesh stepped aside for medical reasons against teammate Jordan Burroughs, who would go on to cap an undefeated season with his second national championship.
Kokesh spent much of his redshirt year training with Burroughs in workouts, getting a crash course from whom many consider to be the odds-on favorite to bring home a gold medal at the Olympics in London this summer.
"Just the speed and athleticism really helped Robert," Manning said. "Jordan's experience really rubbed off on him a lot, I believe. Wrestling a guy like that should give you a lot of confidence, but he took a lot of whuppings too. Which is good, because steel sharpens steel in our sport."
It didn't take long for Kokesh to begin to develop his own reputation. Before the loss to Evans, Kokesh had earned bonus-point wins in five straight matches. His coaches rave about his work ethic and willingness to learn and improve.
"He does everything right," Snyder said. "He lives his life right. He competes hard in the room and on the wrestling mat. He's got the drive to win. Wrestling means something to him."
Which makes a rare defeat hard to take, especially as opponents have become increasingly more defensive wrestling against him. The book on upsetting Kokesh is forming, Manning said. Slow down the tempo. Stay on the edge of the mat. Keep things ugly. Try to catch him in a scramble. Manning said Evans followed the plan to a "T."
But as his opponents are learning, so is Kokesh. As the miles on the stationary bike piled up Wednesday, Kokesh kept his head down, visualizing the moves, picturing how to keep last week's loss from happening again.
Because the next meeting with Evans would likely come with a medal on the line. And no one has managed to make a habit out of beating Robert Kokesh yet.
"It's about doing something about it at the end of the year, and that's when it counts at the Big Ten and the NCAA tournament," Manning said. "That loss is going to drive him to get better."
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