Former Penn State wrestler Jenkins, now at Arizona State, beats Nittany Lions' Taylor for 157-pound title

A Nittany Lions-partisan Wells Fargo Center crowd greeted Arizona State senior Bubba Jenkins, a Penn State transfer, with a chorus of boos - as if Jenkins needed more motivation to win the 157-pound NCAA championship.

The Virginia Beach native insists Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson forced him out of Happy Valley and made him feel unwelcome after taking over the program two years ago. Jenkins' showmanship contrasts drastically with the machinelike style of Sanderson, a legend who won four NCAA championships during his undefeated collegiate career at Iowa State.

But on the day the Lions were crowned national champions for the first time in 57 years, Jenkins got a measure of revenge, earning the 157-pound title by pinning the wrestler he considers Sanderson's "Golden Boy": Penn State redshirt freshman David Taylor.

"[Sanderson] got rid of me, and one man's trash is a whole country's treasure," the gregarious Jenkins said after the match.

Third-seeded Taylor, the crowd favorite who idolized Sanderson as a kid, entered the bout unbeaten at 38-0, living up to the hype that comes with being considered the top recruit in the country after compiling a 180-2 high school record.

In the second period, however, fourth-seeded Jenkins countered Taylor's single-leg takedown with an overhead cradle, flipping Taylor over his head and onto his back.

Ironically, the senior learned the stunning maneuver during his four years in Happy Valley.

"He put me in that position and that pinning combination so many times," Jenkins said. " . . . I was just going back to how we used to wrestle in the mat room and try anything."

That doesn't mean luck wasn't involved in pinning an undefeated, much-heralded opponent.

"They should call me 'Lucky' instead of Bubba," Jenkins quipped.

After losing the 149-pound final at the 2008 championship, Jenkins has gone from overlooked transfer to national champion. He called Saturday's final a personal matter concerning Sanderson, but not Taylor.

That much was clear when, after pinning Taylor, Jenkins leaped into the arm of second-year Sun Devils coach Shawn Charles as boos rained down from the stands.

"That was awesome. That's wrestling right there," Charles said. " . . . The kid busted his butt, transferred to another school, did what he's supposed to do and came to the tournament and kicked butt."

Jenkins certainly found a home at Arizona State, where he joined a program with "people who think outside the box," he said, including assistant Brian Stith, a graduate of Jenkins' First Colonial High School.

Back in Pennsylvania, the Sun Devil said he silenced his critics: "I guess since I moved west and got a tan, they forgot about me and didn't think I was going to be back."