UNIVERSITY PARK — As he took a seat inside the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex on Tuesday long before many of his teammates would eventually file into the cavernous facility, David Taylor was bathed in sweat,
breathing heavily.
His hair was matted to his head. Perspiration dripped from his chin as water would had he just pulled himself from a swimming pool. But this wasn’t an afternoon of leisure for the Penn State sophomore.
He hasn’t looked this gassed after any of his 18 wins this season. No, at the midpoint of his sophomore wrestling campaign, Taylor seems to be working harder, pushing himself in ways he hasn’t yet done.
For his teammates, Taylor’s work ethic during the dog days of winter is inspiring. For his coaches, it’s encouraging. For his opponents, this prospect is terrifying.
Taylor has yet to lose this season and has earned bonus points in 50 of his 57 collegiate matches. His only loss came nearly 11 months ago in the NCAA finals at 157 pounds. Sure, Taylor can still remember that bout like it was yesterday. He grows slightly — and understandably — irritable when asked to recall it and the lessons learned from the pin by former Penn Stater Bubba Jenkins.
The truth is, it motivates him. But it’s over. He’ll never get that bout back. Taylor can only look forward for another chance on college wrestling’s big stage. And if his recent resume is any indication, great things lie ahead for the witty sophomore.
“My goal is to score bonus points in every match this year and I’ve done it in every match but two,” Taylor said. “Last year I did every match but four, so it’s the same mentality as I had last year. Guys wrestle me a little different this year, I think. This year, I think some of them are wrestling more to keep it close so I’ve just got to keep focused on wrestling for seven minutes and open up the score and make guys not want to wrestle me again.”
Imagine the recent predicaments of Iowa’s Mike Evans or any of Taylor’s opponents for that matter. The message from their coaches, is simply, ‘Don’t give up any extra points to this 165-pound wrestling machine.’
Evans bided his time, stalling his way around the mat to keep Taylor from putting big points on the board.
Cael Sanderson foresaw all of this when he recruited Taylor. While Taylor’s sparkling youth and high school wresting accomplishments were plenty to lure a man like Sanderson — who’s own perfect wrestling resume serves as a blueprint for vaunted athletes like Taylor — to St. Paris, Ohio, Sanderson saw something else in Taylor the minute he sat down with him.
“I just knew he was a great student and wrestling is something, it’s his life, being successful,” Sanderson said of Taylor’s perfect 4.0 GPA coming out of high school. “He’s going to do what it takes to be successful and he was obviously extremely talented. But he had incredible poise, watching him as a young wrestler. And that’s something you really look for, that maturity out on the mat is very rare. He learns very quickly, and I’ve watched that throughout the years. You just know that he has everything he needs to be successful and that’s why he’s doing what he’s doing.”
To Sanderson, Taylor was the prized recruit he traveled nearly 400 miles to land.
To Ohio State coach Tom Ryan, Taylor was the one that got away.
“He was within and hour from campus. He’s one of those guys that you don’t want to get out of the state,” Ryansaid, as he’ll lead his No. 5 Buckeyes (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) into Rec Hall today to face the Lions, said. “He was growing. Overall body strength, but he wasn’t a man yet. He was winning as a physically immature person to some degree. I think we all knew that when this kid grows and fills in to manhood, he’s going to be hard to beat. I’m not overly suprised at all about the success he’s having. He’s a tremendous talent and he has an unwavering self-confidence and passion for what he does.”
That self-confidence is evident every time Taylor talks. He speaks quickly but also thoughtfully. He’s extremely confident, yet not cocky. He understands what is expected of him mostly because he expects so much out of himself.
This week, Taylor has been somewhat of a fifth coach for Penn State, joining Sanderson and his troops, Casey Cunningham, Cody Sanderson and Aaron Anspach in helping his teammates scout Ryan’s Buckeyes.
Taylor has had a good look at nearly every man in the Buckeyes’ lineup up to 174 pounds.
“Their whole lineup for the most part is Ohio,” Taylor said. “I grew up wrestling almost every one of those guys. I’ve wrestled all of them, almost up until, geez, I don’t know, 174, I’ve wrestled before. So they’re all my friends so it’s good to compete with guys you grew up with and it just shows you how good competition is in Ohio. It’s going to be a good dual, but we’ve just got to go out and get the job done.”
“I’m real familiar with most of their styles, especially the lightweight guys. We’ll see. Our guys, as a team we’ve just got to go out and do what we do. We go out and do what we do and we’re pretty darn good. We’ve got to stick with that.”
