Wyatt Hendrickson has topped off his career with another upset win. "Captain America" was named as the 2025 Hodge Trophy winner on Monday.

Much like the Heisman Trophy in football, the Hodge is intended to honor the previous season's outstanding wrestler. Also like the Heisman, voters have sometimes treated it as a career award. The latter fact had Penn State's Carter Starocci, who was crowned as an NCAA Champion (184 pounds) for the fifth time in his career - an NCAA first, due to COVID-era eligibility extension.

And it was close - Hendrickson totaled 30 first-place votes, while Starocci tallied 26. That's the second-closest in Hodge Trophy history. WIN Magazine conducts a fan-based poll on the three finalists and Hendrickson won that. The fan vote accounts for five first-place votes, and thus covered the difference between the two grapplers.

The award, which began in 1995, has gone to two other OSU wrestlers, including Steve Mocco in 2005 and Alex Dieringer in 2016. Obviously it was the first under first-year head coach David Taylor, who is a two-time Hodge winner.

“I’m just so proud of Wyatt for everything he’s accomplished this season,” Taylor said. “This is all a testament to his work ethic and the belief he had in himself. His development throughout the year was really special to watch.”

In addition to his victory in regulation over Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA Heavyweight champ (also a two-time Hodge winner and favorite for most of this season) Gable Steveson, Hendrickson also beat another former NCAA champ Greg Kirkvliet in this year's tournament. While results in this year's NCAA's are part of the criteria for the Hodge, season-long results and dominance/bonus points are a big factor and Hendrickson shined there.

He tallied nine wins over 2025 All-Americans in the Heavyweight division. He scored bonus points for his team in 22 of the 27 victories in his perfect 27-0 season. On the dominance front, "Pindrickson" had 13 pins and eight technical falls, along with one default.

“It’s been a lot of hard work compiled over the past five years,” Hendrickson said. “Being a dominant wrestler is something I’ve really embraced and the biggest award you can get for that is this one. It’s an absolute blessing. It feels great. It’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of people that have poured a lot of effort into me.”