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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 22, 2014Ed RuthOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 184 POUNDS THE MODERATOR: Ed Ruth, Penn State. 184‑pound champion. Q. Now that it's over, how do you enjoy‑‑ what was the feeling like after that, go through it a little bit? ED RUTH: I don't know. I'm already thinking about the next step. I kind of feel like I just got over one tier. It's like right on to the next one. Q. You're the first three‑time champ in Penn State history. A lot of great wrestlers coming through what does it mean to you? ED RUTH: It's big, because there's a lot of respective wrestlers that came through Penn State. I see them every time they come in. I go like, wow. Just makes me proud to be one of those guys. Q. Ed, when you heard‑‑ did you hear on the mat that the headlock Sheptock chant? Because I know in the hall you're used to hearing The Ruth and all that. Did that kind of get you going to start out? ED RUTH: I did hear it. It's nice to hear something else. I hear Ruth all the time, then I hear headlock Sheptock. And it feeds to egg the match on. Anybody can feed off of it. Either you or the opponent. Doesn't matter. Just how you choose to see it. Q. As you look back on your career, you're going always be remembered as David Taylor. Many people think you guys are sort of the odd couple. How would you describe your relationship and your legacy? ED RUTH: I love David. I mean, like he's a respected wrestler. I'd like to say the same for myself. It's like being able to wrestle in a time as him, it's like big. It's like people who can say they can wrestle during the time of Brett Metcalf and Jordan Burroughs and I could say I wrestled in the time of David Taylor, Andrew Howe, Chris Perry, Kyle Dake. Just a big honor. Q. Right off the bat you got a couple of takedowns and established that match. Is that how you had planned it, to get out to an early lead? And talk a little bit about how this match differed maybe from other times you might have wrestled him. ED RUTH: Going out there, I never really have a game plan. As soon as the guy steps on the line, I step on the line. The first thing I'm thinking about is just taking 10, 20 shots. So I get to his legs, because in my head I don't like to believe that people can send me off if. I'm taking shots, I like to believe I can always get to the leg, and that just keeps me pushing for the next shot, the next shot after that, and eventually hopefully I'll get him. Q. You mentioned early on, already looking to the next step, the next tier, have you given any thought to what that is or what that means for you? ED RUTH: Only thing is see how recovery goes. But I'm leaning towards freestyle, chasing after a Olympic, freestyle career, just see how far I can take that. Q. To build on that one, Ed, is that with the Nittany Lions wrestling club? Have you had discussions yet with Cael about that? ED RUTH: Just remind him of discussions here and there but he pretty much knows what I intend to do. He's kind of already set in stone. Q. If you could sum up your career in one word, what would you use? How would you say it? ED RUTH: Wow, I don't know. So many words. Fun. Every time I go out there, I'm on the mat, I always think about dancing, so I guess I'll say dancer. Q. Ed, I asked you earlier your relationship with David. How about with Sanderson? At times he's had to discipline you at times, yet you've been able to maintain a good relationship. But how has it worked? ED RUTH: I feel like he understands me. That he really understands me. He knows where I'm coming from. Even if he doesn't, he'll try to. And that's been big for me, because I had my slipups along the way. And just for somebody to kind of like sit down with you, and he's not trying to crucify you but help you along still. He's like, hey, you're going to have to take a break or, hey, I'm going to have to do this, and then you're just going to have to go along with it. You bow your head you say, yeah, and you just come right back after that. Q. Did Cael have any words of advice for you coming into tonight? ED RUTH: He told me the same thing before every match. He just says, go out there and play. Q. Five years has gone by. What are you going to miss most about your college career, Penn State, competing on the stage like this? ED RUTH: The fans. Definitely the fans. Q. Just what has the‑‑ being the three‑time champ, ‑‑ we talked about this last week, the first time with Penn State, but can you sum it all up what tonight means, what the three‑time champ means? What are you feeling right now? ED RUTH: When I first saw the brackets, I was, like, looking at all the guys that I had to wrestle with. And I feel like I've been wrestling with them for a long time. I'm like, wow, I have him, then I have him, then I have him. I'm just looking down the line. And the other two days leading up to this day was just like, wow, I came a long way, and it just makes me think back on the rest of my career. Freshman year, sophomore year, junior year, up until now, and it's just like, wow, I came a long way. Five years is a long time. Q. Ed, last night Nick Heflin said he moved up two weights because he didn't want to wrestle you because he didn't have a lot of success against you. What did that make you think, that a guy bypassed you? ED RUTH: Makes me feel like I'm doing something right. It's the kind of thing that says to me that I'm aggressive. I'm somebody that people want to avoid. And the way that it worked out, the way I trained, I want to be that person. I want to be someone that people kind of fear and respect at the same time because once you step out on the mat, if they don't fear you, they don't respect you, that's when they'll start wrestling you like they want to beat you. And you want to be the guy‑‑ sometimes it's better if you can beat a guy, even if he's not on the mat, because wrestling is a whole mental sport. It's mental from the time you step on the mat to the time you're on the mat, until you get off the mat, it's all mental. To be able to do that, I feel like I kind of got that part down pretty well. Q. Offensively, you're working with Cael Sanderson who was one of the best and most offensive wrestlers in the history of college wrestling.  You got David Taylor, one of your teammates, who's been one of the most dominating guys over the last three or four years. You yourself have been one of the most dominating wrestlers over the last three or four years. What is the impact Cael has had on you as far as your aggression? You just continue to score and score and score. Most guys your weight are not scoring in the teens, but you are routinely. How is that happening? ED RUTH: We're in the practice of wrestling Cael or Casey or Ronnie, you don't want to be the guy that stands still. If you stand still, they'll pick you apart. It's like they're literally taking off pieces of your body and putting on it on the mat and you have to wrestle without it. It's crazy. So with all those guys in our practice room that I wrestle with, I always staying moving, always want to attack. When guys don't have a chance to react, you know you're controlling them, controlling the match. And I found that out real early on. So I learned that from them. Even with some of the freshmen that's in that room, those guys are coming at me, man. They're coming at me hard. It's like I've got to keep attacking them. I got to get them to back off. It's like a wolf that bears his teeth. If he's trying to snap at you and bite at you the whole time, you know you're not going to try to punch it, you're not going to do that, you're going to back up away from it. It's kind of backing him up, putting him on the defensive. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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