Bubba Jenkins stood stone-faced, alone in the bowels of the Scottrade Center until reporters crowded around him. He breathed heavy and seemed tired. The Penn State sophomore wrestler instead insisted the only thing he was tired of was being underestimated. "I'm tired of people putting me as an underdog and tired of being the background guy," Jenkins said Saturday. "I am and have been wrestling like the main guy for a long time now." After his loss in the 149-pound championship match to Iowa's top-seeded Brent Metcalf, Jenkins hinted that a redshirt year might be what he needs to rest and train. He made his intentions clear -- win an NCAA championship as a junior. "Most likely I'm redshirting. That's my plan right now," Jenkins said. "But obviously I'll talk to the coaches and see what they say. That's what I want to do, but if I don't redshirt it's not like I'm wrestling and don't want to wrestle. If I don't redshirt ... I want to wrestle and win nationals next year."

The Virginia Beach native got close in his first season at 149 pounds, but ultimately fell to Metcalf, 14-8. Jenkins' loss was only the sixth on the season, but the third time he lost to the Hawkeye. Despite the loss in the title match, Jenkins had a successful tournament. He entered as the sixth seed and went 4-1 to earn second-place standing room on the podium. But second was just the first loser to the highly competitive Nittany Lion. "I'm an NCAA finalist, an All-American, which is good, but I'm tired of moral victories," Jenkins said. "The first time he pinned me, the second time he majored me, this time he beat me by a little bit, but I'm done with moral victories. I want to win." When he learned he would face Metcalf for a third time, Jenkins concocted a different strategy than he had used in his two losses to his Iowa counterpart. It nearly worked.

Jenkins scored the bout's first two takedowns and the match was tied 5-5 in the middle of the second period. Then Metcalf picked Jenkins up over his shoulder and viciously slammed him to the mat for a five-point lead he never relinquished. "Metcalf's a great competitor and he goes 100 percent all the time," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. "We closed the gap, made a lot of adjustments and without the five-point move, it's a 5-5 match for [Jenkins] in the third period." Metcalf, who transferred from Virginia Tech to wrestle for the Hawkeyes, wasn't as pleased with his own effort. "I don't like giving up points. That's not how you want to wrestle -- that's not how I want to wrestle," Metcalf said at his press conference. "The philosophy of Brent Metcalf and the philosophy of Iowa wrestling is to wrestle on that edge. I failed wrestling on that edge, and that's where he scored."

Jenkins hasn't had much rest since he graduated from Virginia's First Colonial High School in 2006. He started much of last season at 157 pounds for Penn State before switching weights with sophomore Dan Vallimont. Jenkins has competed in 71 matches in two seasons. Sunderland said redshirting was definitely an option for Jenkins but said he would need some time to make a final decision. "We'll discuss it and see where our team is and make some decisions," Sunderland said. "It's much too early to make a definite decision at this point."

Thnaks to Travis Johnson and the "Daily Collegian" (PSU) for the article