Blaize Cabell will be headed west to join the Fresno State wrestling program. A former three-time NCAA qualifier for UNI, Cabell will join Fresno State as an athlete at the Valley Regional Training Center, which is the same role held at UNI for the Panther Wrestling Club.
“If I had to sum it up I’d say I decided to go to Fresno State because Troy Steiner, Israel Silva, and Jason Chamberlain are building a program from the ground up and I thought coming out here, being an athlete, and being able to observe the process they take will help me in the future to try and become a coach myself,” Cabell said on the decision to make the move west, “The Fresno area also has more current and former senior level partners for me to train freestyle with. The Dethrone MMA gym is in Fresno and guys like Ed Ruth, Deron Winn, and Earnest James still come in to wrestle a lot so I am able to put my hands on them and get some very high level feels during training.”
For now Cabell doesn’t plan on joining the Fresno State coaching staff in an official capacity and will focus solely on training in freestyle. Cabell was an Olympic Team Trials qualifier at 97 kilograms last April.
Fresno State shut down their wrestling program back in 2006, but hired former Hawkeye standout Troy Steiner last summer to rebuild the program. In addition to Steiner, Israel Silva and Jason Chamberlain are also on the Bulldog staff and the program will begin official college competition during the 2017-18 school year.
“When a guy can better his position and do something he wants to do you thank them for their time and wish them nothing but the best,” Cabell’s former head coach, Doug Schwab, said in a recent interview, “He had a great six years and put a lot into the program. We appreciate it. Loved how he competed and what he brought to the program and wish him the best out at Fresno. He’ll do great job out there too.”