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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 16, 2012David TaylorST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We have David Taylor. Questions. Q. David, how are you going to approach going to the finals this year relative to how you did it last year? DAVID TAYLOR: Going to approach it the same way. Trained for a whole year, my whole life actually, to be in the national finals. Tomorrow I get a chance to fulfill my goal. Prepare the same way I prepared. Just a matter of going out and wrestling. Q. Match started out and you got taken down. Did that fire you up a little bit more? No dig deal? DAVID TAYLOR: Seven minutes is a long match. A lot can be done. One takedown isn't going to make a difference. Q. You pinned your way through this tournament. Very few guys have done it. Why are you able to do this right now? DAVID TAYLOR: I don't know. I'm not much of a pinner. I don't think people see me as a pinner. Just going out and getting the job done this weekend, obviously wrestling some different people I'm not used to wrestling all the time. Just had a feeling I haven't felt in a really long time when I go out and wrestle. Just had some opportunity to put guys away. When you put guys away in this tournament, score bonus points, it's a big deal. Q. You said watching your teammates go before you really fires you up. Did you see the matches today and did that help? DAVID TAYLOR: I'm one of those guys, I don't like to sit and not watch. I like to sit up in the stands till 141. I like watching matches, watching wrestling. To watch a guy like Nico have a tournament like he had this year, it's pretty special. So happy for him. Then for Frank, he obviously gets the chance to be back in the finals to fulfill a goal. And Dylan wrestled so well all season. Watching those guys, it says a lot about our program, our coaches, how they're preparing us for this tournament. Q. You have six All‑Americans. You could have seven. What has it meant? DAVID TAYLOR: It's huge. I'm really happy for them. National tournament only happens once a year and it's something that can't be replicated. Anytime you can get out there, get the job done, be an All‑American, only one guy in a weight class can do that. For some people, biggest goal in their life is to be an All‑American. Our team is a little different. Trying to be national champs. Being an All‑American is great. Young guys build and do better next year. Q. You and Ed are sophomores. You have a couple good guys coming next year. Do you ever think of the word 'dynasty'? Is that something that came to your attention or encouraged you to choose Penn State? DAVID TAYLOR: Absolutely. When I had a chance to really look at the schools I was going to, looking at Penn State, the people, my recruiting class was just a start. The class after that was great. Winning the national championship as a freshman, we can do this over and over again if we keep performing the way we're supposed to. This year we've been very dominant in a lot of weight classes. I think that's something we continue to do and the freshmen can continue doing. Who knows, who knows how many we can win. I think the sky's the limit. Q. You have Hatchett in the finals. Any past history with him or thoughts about competing against that guy? DAVID TAYLOR: I actually wrestled him in the duel meet earlier this year. I wrestled him before. He's a pretty good opponent. Obviously he's in the national finals. I think he should have been a higher seed than 11. He obviously showed it by making it to the final. I go out and be prepared and just enjoy the moment. You only can be there a few times in your life. Q. Going into the session tonight, it looked like Penn State had wrapped up the team tournament title. Were you surprised how dominant Penn State is? DAVID TAYLOR: No. I mean, we've been doing that all year. We haven't changed. We've been going out. Most of our duel meets sets, for one match, we've won at least seven matches in most of our duel meets. That's pretty dominant there. Going out with the same attitude, keep using each match to get better and build. This is the ultimate goal. Q. You know that you're always compared to Anderson, his style. What did he do to help you after last year's final? DAVID TAYLOR: I don't know. There wasn't much help. It was just a matter of time for me to come to the realization that I lost, there was a lot more for me to accomplish in my life. He just helped me do that, helped me there. He was there, not as a coach, but as a mentor, a Big Brother. That really helped me. Then I think him competing this summer also helped me because I was back on the mat wrestling a lot. To see a guy like him aspiring to do amazing things, not many people can experience something like that. Q. I know Ed is wrestling now. Do you want to give us a play‑by‑play and take us through it? DAVID TAYLOR: No, there's some ESPN guys that are pretty good doing that (laughter). Q. Looks like you're going to win the team title. Would you like to see Cayle go out and make another run at the Olympics? DAVID TAYLOR: If he wanted to do something like that, I'm all for him. I'm going to wrestle in the trials also in a month. If he's going to do something like that, it's going to make the other guys training so much better. Q. When you and Ruth go at it, who wins? DAVID TAYLOR: It's a battle. Like two cats in a bag. You never know what's going to happen. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Dave. DAVID TAYLOR: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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