"You're going to be a Sun Devil someday," the first words ASU wrestling head coach Zeke Jones told an up-and-coming Nicco Ruiz, then a seventh-grader attending an ASU camp.
Now one of two ASU wrestling All-Americans this past season, alongside graduate student David Szuba at heavyweight, Ruiz has rapidly progressed into one of the premier 165-pound wrestlers in the nation. While successful at ASU, the California native's wrestling journey began long before he ever became a Sun Devil.
Ruiz picked up the sport in fourth grade after his brother started wrestling in his freshman year. Under the tutelage of Ruben Valencia, the father of former Sun Devils Zahid, Anthony and current graduate student Cael Valencia, he started to develop his skillset and an iron-clad mindset.
Hailing from St. John Bosco High School, Ruiz was no stranger to high-level competition from a young age. Despite Bosco’s pedigree and the mental toughness the redshirt sophomore brought with him to the mat, his rise in the wrestling ranks was fraught with learning experiences.
Harkening back to a bout between Ruiz and Esperanza's Aaron Nagao, a state champion at 132 pounds, former Bosco wrestling head coach Jeffrey Anderson mentioned Ruiz’s mindset in pushing Nagao to the limit.
"A lot of the guys he was competing against at that time (were) higher ranked," Anderson said. "Sometimes you defer to them … But that moment, even though he lost the match, it really pushed him to the next level."
Ruiz didn’t look back after that point, surpassing his peers to the point where he was "head and shoulders above the competition" as a senior, according to Anderson. Ruiz's high school career culminated with his first California Interscholastic Federation state title at 152 pounds as a junior and a 160-pound title the following year, which garnered interest from DI schools.
The state championships proved Ruiz's mettle, and since stepping foot in Tempe, he's only continued to strengthen the pipeline of elite Bosco wrestlers to ASU. He qualified for the NCAA Championships at 165 pounds as a redshirt freshman, before a marked improvement this year.
Qualifying for the tournament isn't enough for Ruiz, a humility that reflects in his "no excuse" attitude. Unbeknownst to most, Ruiz wrestled at the NCAA Championships in 2025 on one leg that hurt so bad he "couldn't even walk" and just three days after required surgery.
"You try to go out and play any sport with three limbs out of four useful," Jones said. "It's going to be really difficult to do."
Yet it wasn't Ruiz who brought it up, but Jones, as a way to highlight his athlete's toughness and competitive spirit.
As his skills have grown, his mental preparation followed; despite not placing last year, Jones took a photo of Ruiz on top of the podium the day before the weigh-in, a picture that’s become Ruiz's screensaver.
"Every day I've been looking at that, so I'm already putting (it in) my mind that I'm going to place, and I'm going to be on top," Ruiz said.
Ruiz’s vision eventually materialized. At the Big 12 Championships, he defeated the top two seeds, Ryder Downey and LaDarion Lockett, en route to winning the 165-pound bracket.
Ruiz maintained his momentum through the NCAA Championships by placing fourth, the second-highest placement at that weight class in program history, just behind Steve Blackford, who finished third in 2000.
As Ruiz heads into his junior campaign, refining his technique is not only key to his advancement but also his status as a proverbial favorite rather than an underdog. Few understand his predicament better than Jones, who finished sixth at the NCAA Championships as a sophomore at ASU.
He later became a World Champion and Olympic silver medalist.
"Not only are you honing your skills, you got to make sure you have a plan to beat everybody else's best move or two," Jones said. "As you play this chess game, that's how you climb from fourth in the country to number one in the world … where Nicco's at in reality is he's really top 10-15 in the world."
Standing on the podium is a great achievement, but ascending the steps to the top is next on Ruiz's mind.
"There's a reason he came to Arizona State, and that's to win a national title," Jones said. "Great thing is, he's got a couple years still to do it, and he's in position to do that."
Edited by Niall Rosenberg, Henry Smardo and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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Pratham Valluri is a sports reporter at The State Press. He is a junior majoring in sports journalism with business and data analytics minors. He’s in his 5th semester with The State Press working previously as an opinion writer.
