Sure, Keith Gavin has to have the moves and technique to be among the elite college wrestlers. But, the Pitt senior is equally adept at using his eyes and brain.

Gavin, the NCAA runner-up and Eastern Wrestling League champion last year, has spent this season ranked No. 1 at 174 pounds. He is 26-0 and considered the favorite to win the NCAA title this year before moving on to become an Olympic hopeful.

There are two things longtime Panthers wrestling coach Rande Stottlemyer and his staff can't really teach Gavin -- the kind of mental approach that a philosophy major brings, and the uncanny ability to convert things Gavin gleans from watching video into useful moves on the mat.

"That's my approach -- to think about it a lot," Gavin said. "I try to develop my techniques and build off what I'm already good at.

"I'm watching video every day, whether it be of myself or somebody else."

Pitt assistant Jason Peters has some connections with USA Wrestling and is able to come up with a wide array of footage -- freestyle, Greco-Roman, collegiate, Olympic, you name it. Gavin particularly likes to watch the Europeans for their technical style.

"He does take stuff off film and add it to his game quite often," Peters said. "He even gets frustrated sometimes when he's wrestling because he wins but he doesn't get to do what he's worked on that previous week because the opportunity doesn't come up for whatever reason."

Gavin faced his last ranked opponent of the regular season Saturday -- beating 18th-ranked Philip Moricone, 5-3 -- but the 23rd-ranked Panthers (13-4, 5-1) suffered a 21-12 loss to No. 14 Edinboro (11-3, 6-0), which clinched the EWL title with the victory.

Pitt has not had an NCAA wrestling champion since Pat Santoro won back-to-back titles in 1988 and '89. Santoro is the Maryland coach.

"He's got that heart of a champion," Stottlemyer said of Gavin. "If you're going to beat him, you'd better bring your lunch pail."

Gavin's overall record at Pitt is 113-37.

Although he was 38-3 and finished third in the PIAA as a senior at Lackawanna Trail High School in Factoryville, Wyoming County, he wasn't highly recruited. He probably sought out Pitt more than the Panthers went after him.

"I'm from a pretty small area in northeastern Pennsylvania, a small school not really known for wrestling," Gavin said.

"I was flying under the radar a little bit in high school. I contacted Pitt and kind of got the ball rolling. I'd heard about the program, and I thought I'd check it out. And I liked it."

Stottlemyer saw a lot of potential in Gavin, who was thin coming out of high school and started out 0-5 before finding his college legs and growing into his weight class.

"He was kind of tall for his weight class, so we thought he could get better, and some of those guys that have gotten bigger after they knew how to wrestle have gotten to be pretty good because they have the skills before they get bigger," Stottlemyer said.

Stottlemyer describes Gavin as slightly defense-first.

"He's a flexible kid, so he can get out of some crazy situations," Stottlemyer said. "Keith is ahead of the curve. The opponent really has to pay attention."

A lot of that comes from Gavin's extensive video study.

"I tell people he's on the cutting edge of the new technique," Stottlemyer said. "He does some things that other people are going to be studying him on film."

After graduation and that shot at an NCAA title, Gavin hopes to land a coaching job that would allow him to continue training.

He's aiming for the world.

"I want to start winning medals on the international level -- world and Olympic medals," he said.

It's a big jump, but not necessarily out of reach.

"That's not a pipe dream," Stottlemyer said. "He already wrestles year-round. It's going to take a lot of work, but it's realistic."

No doubt, his post-college training will continue to include film study and a thinking-man's regimen.

"Maybe it's just a type of personality I have," Gavin said. "I analyze a lot. That's kind of the way I approach wrestling."

Other than developing a mind suited for wrestling, Gavin isn't sure what he's going to do with his degree.

"I don't know," he said. "I think you starve with a philosophy degree.

"I'm just going to keep wrestling."