All year, we have been highlighting the Hodge Trophy race and all of its twists and turns. At this point, it seems like there's only one front-runner.

With Jason Nolf's knee injury and Adam Coon's win over Kyle Snyder, Zain Retherford has grabbed ahold of the race and could become the first back-to-back Hodge winner since Ben Askren in 2007.

Before we go any further, here once again are the criteria for wrestling’s version of the Heisman Trophy:

1. Record
2. Number of pins
3. Dominance
4. Past credentials
5. Quality of competition
6. Sportsmanship/citizenship
7. Heart

The last time we did this, everyone was up in arms about the removal of Seth Gross. This time around, Nolf has been removed. Their losses get giant asterisks, but they are still losses. There are 13 wrestlers with undefeated records, and we have included over half of them as contenders. Below are their stats, arranged in weight class order, using only DI matches, just like the NCAA does for most dominant stats.

After some discussion, the decision was made to not include Mark Hall and Darian Cruz due to their All-Star Classic losses, which we understand goes against what we did last time around. Nick Suriano has just two pins and has never been an All-American, and David McFadden's bonus rate is under 50 percent. 

Pete Renda has a decent case to be included, with five pins and four ranked wins. Alex Marinelli has just a 30 percent bonus rate but does have seven ranked wins. On to our list.

7) Michael Kemerer, Iowa

Kemerer's position is very tenuous, primarily because of the possibility Nolf returns for NCAAs. But Kemerer's 4.72 dominance score is excellent, and he gets a pin in one-third of his matches.

6) Daniel Lewis, Missouri

Lewis was difficult to include, as his best win is over #12 Christian Brucki. But Lewis' dominance score of 4.94 (which throws out his seven non-DI pins) puts him just behind Penn State's big three.

5) Zahid Valencia, Arizona State

The only guy in the top-seven Zahid doesn't have a win over is Daniel Lewis. If he gets the two seed at NCAAs, which is possible, he might have to go through undefeated Mark Hall and an undefeated Lewis, which would give Valencia a great case to be a finalist.

4) Adam Coon, Michigan

No one has a bigger win this year than Coon's 3-1 victory over Kyle Snyder, plus he has more pins than Zahid Valencia in fewer matches. Also, Coon's best finish is second and Valencia's best is third.

3) Isaiah Martinez, Illinois

Now that Vincenzo Joseph has lost and IMar is over 10 matches, the Illini senior is looking like a finalist. He has a higher bonus rate than Bo Nickal and one more title, but Martinez has just a single pin on the year. J'den Cox finished second last year with just six pins, so Martinez's third title could lessen the need for him to rack up pins.

2) Bo Nickal, Penn State

There is a tremendous senior class about to leave us behind, which means Nickal could be the early favorite for next year's Hodge. He is averaging over a tech per match and just majored Ohio State's Myles Martin, his biggest rival and likely NCAA finals opponent.

1) Zain Retherford, Penn State

Excluding his forfeit, Retherford has a better than 95 percent bonus rate and has only given up three decisions in the past two years. If every match were a dual meet, he'd be averaging 5.5 team points per match. As the reigning Hodge, going for his third title, it's Zain's trophy to lose. He'd be the first guy since David Taylor to win two, and the first since Ben Askren to win back-to-back.