TEMPE, Ariz. -- Blake Stauffer is nearsighted by choice.
If the Sun Devils All-American wrestler wanted to, he could look beyond the confines of his mat and enjoy the thousands of screaming fans at this weekend's Las Vegas Invitational, or at the NCAA Championships in March in New York.
He could even look beyond his senior season and ponder the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo or the profession he will eventually choose.
"Everybody is always asking what are you doing after college?" Stauffer said. "I'm so focused on what I want to do this year that I just tell them 'I have a national championship to win first. I'll start making life decisions after that.'"
Stauffer had planned to win a national championship last season at 184 pounds. He went 37-1 during the regular season. He won the Daktronics Open, he won the Vegas Invite, he won the Edinboro Open and he won his weight class at the Pac-12 Championships.
But Penn State's Matt McCutcheon upset him in the second round of the NCAAs, forcing Stauffer into the wrestlebacks and forcing him to reset his goals for the third-place match.
"I remember walking off the mat after I won in the round of 12," said Stauffer, who finished fourth at the NCAAs. "You win that round and you're an All-American; you lose and you're not. They call it the blood round and the year before I had lost in that round, so being so close and coming up short, I was crushed.
"I felt like I needed that in a way for the respect it gives you and the confidence. Becoming an All-American is definitely an elite fraternity of guys and I understand what those guys went through to get there, but when I walked off the mat there wasn't any celebration. I have bigger plans and I feel like I skipped one goal."
Sun Devils coach Zeke Jones said Stauffer's focus has been apparent ever since he reported for his final season.
"He came in more prepared," Jones said. "He's much farther ahead tactically, technically and physically, his body looks better. He's stronger, he's faster, he's in better shape. He didn’t have to build into it, he was already there."
Stauffer is off to an 8-0 start this season, including a win over Illinois' Jeff Koepke. He is currently ranked No. 2 in his weight class by Amateur Wrestling News, trailing only defending NCAA champion Gabe Dean of Cornell; the guy he thought he would be wrestling for the title last season before his misstep.
"It's definitely fueling him, but it's fueling about 12 to 15 other guys in the country that all want the same thing," Jones said. "He's got a returning national champion in his weight so it’s not a given he's going to win. You've got to do the work and earn the right to win."
Jones said that has never been a problem with Stauffer, who takes a methodical approach to everything he does and almost never gets rattled.
"The guy is like medicine," Jones said. "Every four hours, he's hitting you with that same dose and you can't stop it. He's going to score and get the job done. He doesn't get rattled or shaken. He understands that staying steady and within himself is when he's good."
Stauffer's approach is predicated on pace.
"A lot of guys try to slow me down. They push away and keep me from my attacks," he said. "Whenever I'm on my game is when I'm getting to my attacks as much as possible and I'm pushing my pace. I'm in control of the match."
Like every wrestler, Stauffer wants to win this weekend's tournament in Vegas, but he is also using it as a scouting mission.
"I already know all the guys that are going to be there (including Dean) and it's one of the top two tournaments of the year so when you get to see some of those guys you'll be competing with at nationals, it’s always good to wrestle them beforehand," he said. "It's a good tool to measure yourself and see where you’re at. Last year, I won the tournament but there were still a lot of things I took away to work on."
Stauffer admits to feeling pressure to perform in his final season, but that's as far ahead of himself as he's willing to go.
"I think there's a certain pressure that just comes naturally with being a senior," he said. "I know this is my last shot, but to me it's how you handle that pressure that is most important and I usually do a good job with that.
"With the atmosphere here and at nationals, everything is intensified that much more. For me, it's about making it as small as I can. It’s a big deal, but it's still the sport of wrestling, it’s still the same rules and I'm still on a mat. It’s just in a big arena in front of thousands of fans, but I know how to deal with that pressure."