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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 18, 2011

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

157-lb. Championship

MODERATOR: Joined now by David Taylor, 157-pound, No. 3 seed. Improves to 38-0 in this season and advances on to the Finals tomorrow. With that, we'll open it up for questions.

Q. What was it like going that deep into the second period, tied 0-0, was there any concern at all?
DAVID TAYLOR: No. I can wrestle a seven-minute match at a really high pace. So I had a lot of attacks in that first period, didn't feel in danger. Felt really confident. Yeah, he was getting some riding time. But it was a matter of time before I was going to get on the scoreboard and keep wrestling for seven minutes.

Q. What are your thoughts about facing Bubba tomorrow night? Kind of ironic, coincidental or just strange?
DAVID TAYLOR: He's a high quality wrestler, been to the Finals before. Not a slouch by any means. He's pretty tough. Kind of funny, I guess.
I'm excited to get in the Finals. I'm excited to wrestle in front of all of these people. And my goal since the beginning of the year, since I can remember, is to be national champ. Now I'm one match away, seven minutes. Go wrestle hard for seven minutes.

Q. Seemed like one of the keys to the match was your ability to kind of score in serial fashion. You've got the reversal. Turn it straight. Nearfall. Then he got the escape and you jump right back with the takedown. Was that part of the game plan or just the way it worked out?
DAVID TAYLOR: That's what I've been doing my whole life. I think that's what separated me from other people, is I don't stop wrestling in positions.
Especially this year, and the more matches I can remember, some of the closer ones, I scored points in bunches. And I'm looking to score points for seven minutes.
And I don't want to keep repeating myself about that, but not a lot of people don't want to wrestle for seven minutes hard, and I want to wrestle the entire time, whether it's from an escape, from a reversal, a takedown. I'm always looking to build my lead in that match, especially just score those points quickly and that made the difference.

Q. Last year was Kyle Dake. This year it's you as a freshman doing this. Looks like you're having fun, almost making it look easy. What is it about you young guys, that you seem to be able to do this that even the veterans even almost seem to slow down?
DAVID TAYLOR: Well, I think a lot of people get into college, think they have to wrestle a two-to-one match or three-to-one match, make it a real boring escape, double overtime match.
That happens every once in a while. But when you're young, you come in here as a freshman. And you're real excited. I'm excited for every single match this year.
And I think I know Kyle personally, been good friends for a long time, and both have a similar personality, real enthusiastic. High energy. I think that's what the college wrestling needs. They need people to go out and score a lot of points, really like Cael did. Luckily I'm surrounded by a lot of good coaches, always preaching for me to build leads. And continue scoring. Because I have that ability. So I thank them more than anything else to keep that mindset for me.

Q. You're kind of familiar with Bubba's style, since you guys wrestled a little bit when he was back still in school, what changed about your game since the last time you guys drilled together wrestled each other?
DAVID TAYLOR: I've gotten better.

Q. Expand on it?
DAVID TAYLOR: Gotten better in every single position. I'm very capable to win a national title tomorrow. I just gotta go out and wrestle. That's the bottom line.

Q. David, you made the decision after high school to go to one college, and then you followed Cael to Penn State. And obviously that's not easy for someone to go through those kind of changes. But how has that worked out for you to be able to wrestle for Cael and have the opportunity not to have any penalty and to just pursue your career as you would like, and now be here as a freshman and have a chance to win the tournament?
DAVID TAYLOR: I had my mind pretty much made up when I was a kid. I thought Cael could be a coach somewhere I wanted to wrestle for. He was my idol growing up.
As much as I tried, I try and wrestle like he did. He's the guy I wanted to be like. And when it came time when he was the head coach, I would say to my dad, "How cool would it be to wrestle for a guy I looked up to for so many years."
When I had the ability to follow him to Iowa State, I committed early. When all that stuff happened, when he changed schools. Rumor was I wasn't going to be able to go with him, all kinds of stuff. And there was some mixed feelings where I was gonna go.
But when it all came down to it, that's where I wanted to be. That's where my heart was. And I don't regret it one bit. I'm more than happy than I ever thought I was going to be. I have more fun wrestling than I've had in my entire life. I love my coaches, and I would do anything for them.

Q. There's been a lot of people talking about the relative youth of your team and you yourself. Is that something you guys have talked about?
DAVID TAYLOR: I know people at the beginning of the year -- obviously we were going to be better this year than last year because we redshirted so many people and thought we couldn't compete.
Bottom line is we might be freshmen, but we were good and we can compete with anybody from the beginning. Some of the guys, I feel for Andrew Walton. He came in as a true freshman which is really hard to do. To be honest, I couldn't have done it last year. The season he had, the whole season he obviously wrestled the best guys week in and week out in the Big Ten.
And he's right there. He didn't quite get through there at the end. But him, Ed, myself, even Quentin, we're so young, freshman, sophomore, all through the lineup, we just kept building off them.
Once we learned at the beginning we could wrestle the same as we did in high school, and be even more dominant in some cases. We believed we could wrestle anybody. It was building. And we just started 25, started going up the line-up. At a time we had freshman in the lineup at 25, too. It was like we were trying to outdo each other, who could get the most bonus points that kind of stuff. That made the season a lot more fun. A sign for good things to come in the future.

Q. After such a big win, people looked like they were pulling you left and right, looked like you stopped for a second to look at Ed and how his match was doing. What does that say about your selflessness and this team in general?
DAVID TAYLOR: Anyone that watched the Big Ten on TV, I said we love each other. I'm more nervous watching my teammates wrestle sometimes than I get when I go out there and wrestle.
I want them to be just as successful as I am, because it's a team thing. For us to be Big Ten champs and be in the national title race. It's not just one or two people. We've qualified eight people here. And all eight people are capable of All-American.
We want to be in the Finals. That's just how the mentality are and how we are as a team. We're real close and always together. And I think that's one of the things that's made us so good is that love for each other.
MODERATOR: Anything else for David? Congratulations.
Joined now by No. 4 seed at 157 Bubba Jenkins who improves to 20-3, with a victory, on to the Finals. Take questions for him at this time.

Q. Do you find it's ironic what's happening tomorrow night?
BUBBA JENKINS: I just found out that I was wrestling David, so I guess it's ironic. He's from Penn State. I went there for four years, so it's ironic. I'm happy that we both made it to the finals. That's what a lot of people are coming to see. I'm excited about it.
To answer your question, it is ironic.

Q. How much did you guys see each other in practice before you left Penn State? How often have you wrestled him and do you match up well with him?
BUBBA JENKINS: I match up well with him. People have counted me out and pushing me out the window of being in the final because I had my surgery, and I kind of moved to Arizona and looks like I went on a little vacation out there with the sun and the palm trees.
But Bubba's back, and I match up well with him. I saw him, whether we were drilling or he was beating me up or I was beating him up, whether I was trying my best and pulling out all kinds of stops to get off on bottom from him or he was trying his best to stay on his feet with me, it was everyday battle.
We're not going to see anything different from each other except he's one year, maybe two years better than he was, and I'm better than I was.

Q. I saw you before the match. You and David shook hands, said good luck. Did you initiate that or did he?
BUBBA JENKINS: I got no hard feelings towards David Taylor. He's been an ambassador for Penn State and for young guys across the country, little guys who came and filled into the bigger weight class. I got no animosity towards him. I liked him when I left; I like him now. He's a good kid.
You can't hold it against him, except for tomorrow night I'm going to be wholeheartedly against him.

Q. Was it just a "good luck" thing?
BUBBA JENKINS: Yeah, I told him to get after it. We weighed in by weight class today, and I saw Fittery and we were talking, and he's like, man, everybody here in Philly, you went to Penn State, too bad you're not going to be able to see David Taylor. And I was like [inaudible]. So I was just telling him good luck, guys telling me we're gonna beat you, so I just told him to get after it.

Q. You sort of joked that you're going to be against him. Tomorrow night you're going to be faced in a group in the stands that will be against you and probably booing you, the same group that used to cheer for you. Can you tell us about that?
BUBBA JENKINS: People don't forget. I was there, they used to cheer for me, they used to love the "Super Duck" and the "Mixer" and stuff like that. So if I hit it tomorrow, hopefully they feel the same way about it. If not, I got my group of fans here, I got my family, I got my people across the country got their "Bubba J. Squad" shirts on. I'm just happy I'm in the finals and with somebody I've already seen.

Q. Do you think you've picked up anything or gained anything in your wrestling since you've been at Arizona State? It's a different scene, different coaches, you got the Sunkiss program around there. Are there things that your game has now that's better than when you were wrestling elsewhere?
BUBBA JENKINS: Yeah, it's black and white. No pun intended. The coaches over there are great coaches. They see things different than the coaches at Penn State. So I don't have a problem. Being at Penn State, you go into the grueling wrestling room, you come out and it's freezing, it's cold.
Going to Arizona State, you don't have any problems going in there for 45 to two hours, just busting it out because outside, it's 75 degrees, the birds are chirping, the girls are walking around. It's just a beautiful site. You have no problems getting in there and just grinding it out and wrestling guys all the time because as soon as you bust those doors open to the outside, it's like, ah, paradise. I mean, it's just a different scene. So I'm excited about it.

Q. Kind of a recruiting thing for you, isn't it?
BUBBA JENKINS: Absolutely.

Q. Can you talk to us about Ben Askren and the impact he's had on your career?
BUBBA JENKINS: Oh, man he's great. He's been a blue-sky, kind of doesn't -- none of the rules apply to him. He can do the splits forwards and backwards. He goes to his back, put you to your back. Seeing him wrestling and wrestling with him, wrestling a guy like Welsh is almost like a miniature accident because he throws so much action with all the rolls and cradles and putting you to your back as you all saw out there. So wrestling action really, really helped.
And just talking to him, it's not the same like you gotta go out there. It's like, hey, man, put a mask on, go out, dress up, and go out there. It's great. Plus we both have nice fros so it's amazing.

Q. What can you say about the team's performance right now? You guys are top six in the standings right now. You guys struggled during the season due to injuries. How does it feel to be finally breaking through as a team right now?
BUBBA JENKINS: It feels good. Coach Charles looking like Nostradamus. He said we were going to come out and do it well because we've been injured all year. I think we went 4-12 in the Pack 10. And when the fans came out, we had a good crowd and they didn't see the Arizona State team that we have here today. A lot of times we lost some matches to some teams we probably should have beat because we didn't have 25 healthy. And once we got healthy we put on the show at the Pack 10 Tournament so we were happy about that. We brought six guys that were gonna get it done.
And as the teams standing out there, we're looking up on the board and there's teams behind us that about ten guys and were beating us up this year. We're just putting on a show. Coach Charles got us ready for this date.

Q. What type of victory celebration do you have planned?
BUBBA JENKINS: I have not made it up yet. I go on the fly. I'm a freestyle dancer. So I'll just pick it up as I go.

Q. [Inaudible]?
BUBBA JENKINS: I can't do a back flip, but if I can cartwheel without anybody messing me up, I might cartwheel, but other than that, I don't have anything planned. But if I get the win, I might take off my singlet and run around like I scored a soccer goal or something.

Q. I don't know that I'd advise that.
MODERATOR: Any other questions for Bubba?

Q. You've indicated that you might go into MMA and not do any more wrestling after this competition. What's your thoughts about this being your last actual competitive wrestling match, if that's your plan?
BUBBA JENKINS: That is my plan and I don't plan to do freestyle wrestling like that. I made my mind up that this will be my last college match. It's bittersweet. It's been a long road. I've made my own path. I did some things my own way to get to this match, and some were not advised, some of them questionable. But I'm here on the main stage and that's the reason God has looked out for me. My family has backed me and I'm just happy and I'm proud to be here.
So it's sad that it's over, and I had a lot of good fans and a lot of super ducks and mixers and hoorahs along the way. But tomorrow it's going to be my final one, and I'm just excited for it.
MODERATOR: Thanks, Bubba. Good luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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