When Illini assistant coach Ed Ruth arrived at his first wrestling practice at the age of eight, he was confused. Why weren't any of the wrestlers wearing underwear, the type of thing he saw on TV? Where were the high laced-up boots? Why wasn't anyone jumping off turnbuckles or slamming into each other?

"When I asked my mom to put me in wrestling, she took me into my first wrestling practice, and I was like, 'What is this? Why is everybody on the floor?'" Ed recalled. "It was weird. I was like, 'I don't like this.'"

His mom encouraged him to stick with it so he at least had something to do after school. While other siblings opted for basketball, tennis, and track, Ed picked wrestling, a sport he got several college offers in. Receiving letters from schools almost every day in high school and eventually committing to Penn State, Ed went on to become one of the most decorated college wrestlers in NCAA history, winning three national titles and four Big Ten championships.

While Ed wrestled during high school, his younger brother, Edmond Ruth, soon followed in his footsteps. Like his older brother, Edmond was not immediately interested in the sport. Riding around on his Heelys at Ed's tournaments, Edmond hid in the bathroom for 30 minutes to avoid going to practices, citing his mother's persistence and desire for keeping him in the sport.

"I was more forced into it. My mom put me into a whole bunch of sports because she didn't want me to stay home and do nothing," Edmond said. "I wanted to do soccer, and I was OK in that, but she just kind of forced me along with wrestling. Since my brother had some pretty good success because he's 10 years older than me, she kept me in and just hoping that something would come out of it. 

"In the beginning, I was one of the worst wrestlers possible. I was getting pinned almost every single match for years straight, but somewhere in elementary or towards middle school, that's when I started to actually win some matches and started to improve."

Eventually wrestling at Lehigh University for two years, Edmond has reunited with his older brother at Illinois, Edmond as a redshirt sophomore competing in the 174-pound weight class and Ed as an assistant coach.

The pair has grown closer over the last few months, and it has given them the opportunity to focus on their relationship, both on and off the mat.

"It allowed me a chance to get closer to him. Now I get some one-on-one time," Ed said. "I get to spend it with him, personally. I can just be a bigger brother to him. I felt like whenever I was wrestling over at Penn State, I was always on the road. I was always traveling. I lived about an hour away, but I never came home. Now, it kind of gives me a chance to focus on our relationship. It's nice because we can relate over something that we have in common, and I can help him along his journey."

Edmond, the youngest of 10 siblings, chose Illinois because of its wrestling and media and cinema studies programs, and his brother serving as an assistant coach was a cherry on top. The 9th-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds by InterMat, Edmond is 24-3 overall this season.

Having his brother as a coach comes with its pros and cons. While he finds Ed understands him more, Edmond says he sometimes feels slight pressure to be at the same level or be even better than his older brother. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Edmond focuses on bettering himself because "the only thing I could do at this moment is just work on me and not try to work on how to be like someone else."

"At this moment, I actually see him first as my coach, and then maybe after practice or certain other times, he's my brother," Edmond said. "During practice or during tournaments, he's first my coach. In the very beginning, when I was first transferring into here, it took a little bit for me to get that through my mind. Now, I understand it. He's first my coach once we all step on the mat. Off the mat, outside of the tournament venue, outside of the practice room, then he's my brother. Once we're training, once we're focusing, he's first my coach."

Ed describes his younger brother as creative and consistent, while Edmond admires his older brother's strength and strong-mindedness. There's a mutual respect between the two of them, something that began years ago when growing up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Long past the days of Heelys, avoiding practice, and questioning why wrestlers aren't wearing high laced-up boots, Ed and Edmond have established themselves in Champaign, and the Illini are reaping the rewards.

"When you have people who are coaching you, they didn't accomplish what you want to do, so it's kind of hard to believe what they're saying," Ed said. "I feel that a lot of college wrestlers want to be an NCAA champion, so whenever I have something to say, they'll listen to it and they'll believe it as well. I feel like they give it extra effort to understand you if you're somebody who has done it before."