Packer champ Jarvis to keep wrestling in college
Published 7:07 pm Tuesday, March 26, 2019
- Colquitt County High senior wrestler and state champion Nic Jarvis.
MOULTRIE – Nic Jarvis, 220-pound state champion as a senior for Colquitt County High back in February, is now preparing to be a college wrestler.
On Tuesday, Jarvis signed his letter-of-intent to compete for Reinhardt University in the Cherokee County town of Waleska.
And going to Reinhardt as a wrestler is no small honor. In the 2018-19 season, the Eagles won the Appalachian Athletic Conference championship and finished fifth overall in the NAIA tournament. That was held in Des Moines, Iowa, March 1-2.
The Eagles, under NAIA Coach of the Year Jeff Bedard, only had one senior.
Jarvis already has a winning mindset in his wrestling life as he won the Class 7A 220-pound bracket one year after reaching the finals his junior year.
It’s going to be a big matter of adjustments to college wrestling, for there is no 220-pound class. Colquitt County High coach Benjy Scarbor said there are 10 classes, and at the top are 197-pounds and heavyweight.
Scarbor said one big draw for Jarvis to Reinhardt is his past association with Bedard when the Jarvis’ lived in the Atlanta area.
“It’s a great deal,” said Scarbor. “He’ll get a good education for a great price, and they are getting a humble guy. It’s great for the community.
“Hopefully he won’t be the last.”
Jarvis’ plan, according to Scarbor, is to bulk up to the heavyweight division. As his coach the past two seasons with the Packers, Scarbor said he feels Jarvis’ technique is more suited to heavyweight.
But there are other adjustments to make, like the overall physicality.
“There are guys (in college) who can hammer you,” said Scarbor, adding that, considering the underclassmen already at Reinhardt, Jarvis could red-shirt his first season.
“It may take a year to adjust. If he’s not winning or being successful, he won’t be happy, and he will change. His work ethic will get him in the right frame of mind.”
That goes for the classroom as well.
Some of the other rules that change from high school to college wrestling, Scarbor said, have to do with riding times, out of bounds and dangerous moves.