It was at a very young age that David Taylor knew he had a unique ability to grow within the sport of wrestling. The sport took over his life early on; by 8 years old, he was consistently traveling around the country with his father to hunt down the best national competition. After running the youth circuit for years, David and his father made the decision to move to Ohio to train under esteemed coach, Jeff Jordan, at St. Paris Graham. After seeing remarkable success at Graham, David had to make the first big decision of his life: where to wrestle in college. It was Cael Sanderson and Iowa State that ultimately wrangled in the top recruit in the country. But soon after getting David Taylor to commit, Cael made the move to Penn State to head the once-great Nittany Lion wrestling program. David Taylor followed, and he progressively learned from the legendary Sanderson. He began to see incredible success as a Nittany Lion; as a freshman he was on pace to become just the 2nd undefeated four-time NCAA champ before getting upset by his former team-mate, Bubba Jenkins, in one of the more dramatic NCAA finals matches in recent memory. This was the turning point for Taylor, the pivot that prompted a ferocious return to NCAA competition in 2011-12. Taylor would return the next season "The Magic Man" and win the NCAA title he had been working for his entire life.