We all know the feeling.

That jumpy sensation you got in your stomach the first time you walked into the principal's office.

Penn State defensive end Bob Jones had the same feeling when he walked into the office of Joe Paterno, the 74-year-old patriarch of Penn State football, to appeal to him once more for the freedom to pursue the sport of wrestling.

At Wadsworth High School in Ohio, he was the first heavyweight in 30 years of Buckeye State wrestling to win back-to-back state championships.

He had been thinking about going back to wrestling since he came to Penn State and often spoke with captain Jeff Knupp.

Knupp's alma mater was Walsh Jesuit High School, not far from Wadsworth, and both Jones and Knupp shared a class.

Knupp informed the coaches, and assistants Dave Hart and Jeremy Hunter had several conversations with Jones about coming back. Jones asked for Paterno's blessing last year, but was rejected. Coach Troy Sunderland spoke to Jones after the football season was over this year, and he decided to go back into the Paterno's office to give it another try.

"I was really nervous about it," Jones said. "I knew he wanted to turn me down, but I just came in and told him 'Coach, I've come in to see you before about this, but wrestling is something I really love and I really want to do. Football is my No. 1 priority, but wrestling has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.' "

This time, Paterno changed his mind and allowed Jones to begin grappling again.

"It really didn't take much convincing," Jones said. "He just asked if I was in good enough physical shape for it and if I really wanted to do it. When I told him I was and that I did, he just wished me good luck."

Jones' first love was football. The second team all-state selection committed to play football at Penn State in his junior year of high school. He never pondered choosing wrestling first and never had to worry about being hassled by wrestling coaches.

However, he never lost his desire to wrestle.

"At first it wasn't as bad, because I was putting all of my time in to football," Jones said. "But I started to realize 'Man, I really miss this a lot.'

"I really loved wrestling growing up. I really had a lot of fun wrestling, even just messing around with it, and I just realized that being without it was really getting to me."

Jones worked out for weeks trying to get back into wrestling shape, but never worked out with the team for a serious stretch. Over Christmas break, he worked with a friend, but he did not officially put in a day of wrestling with the squad in the room until Jan. 3.

"When I got to practice, I found out just how rusty I was," Jones said. "I just seemed to have forgotten the basics. I still knew the moves, but it seemed like my body had forgotten how to do them. I guess it showed that I wasn't in wrestling shape.

"It's so much different than football shape. There's nothing like it, there's no way to explain what kind of shape you have to be in. You have to be able to lift for seven minutes straight. I'm still not in that kind of shape."

It took only one day in the room, however, for Jones to get himself on the travel squad. The day after his first day of practice, coach Sunderland informed him he would be making the trips to Pittsburgh and West Virginia Saturday to wrestle at heavyweight.

"He really impressed us in the room," Sunderland said. "He showed that he was a tremendous athlete, with a natural feel for wrestling."

"Kevin Shippos just healed from his leg injury, but he wasn't at the level of conditioning he needed to be at yet, and Pat Cummins had lost to (Pittsburgh heavyweight Jacob) Lininger twice, so we figured Bob would at least be competitive. He wrestled a very good match and came out with the win."

Jones match with Lininger displayed his strength and desire to win, as he held out through three periods tied 9-9 despite admittedly not having his best stuff. A takedown in overtime gave him a victory in his first-ever collegiate match in his fourth year at Penn State.

"My wrestling was below average," Jones said. "I just refused to lose, and I decided I was just going to go for it. Nothing felt smooth or comfortable at all. I didn't feel like I was doing the right things technically, but I just tried to out-hustle him."

"It really felt good to get a win, though."

Jones's rust would not go unexposed against West Virginia's Ryan Kehler, the No. 3 ranked heavyweight in the country, and he was trounced 13-3 in a major decision.

"After the match, I looked at some of the things I did wrong and tried to learn from them, but during the match, I felt like my mind went blank," Jones said.

"Nothing came naturally, I felt like I had to think about everything before I did it. It really upset me because I don't like to lose to anybody. It wouldn't matter if he was No.1 in the country, I would still have felt like I should've won the match."

Jones had to face another ranked opponent against Lehigh in No. 16 ranked heavyweight Shawn Laughlin. Jones was unable to score a takedown on Laughlin and lost the match 7-3.

The Penn State coaching staff has done a lot on this 6-foot-5, 260-pound project, getting Jones back in the saddle by re-teaching him the basics of the sport.

"We've just been watching him wrestle, correcting some of the major issues, and teaching him some basic things that we know he can do," Sunderland said. "He's certainly rusty, and he has to deal with the new rule changes, with riding time being a factor unlike in high school."

According to Sunderland, Jones did do well with his first experience with the riding time rules for overtime. In a match in the wrestling room with redshirt freshman Pat Cummins which went to overtime, Cummins chose the down position, forcing Jones to have to ride him out for a victory, which he did.

"He's quick and explosive. The only thing that will really hurt him is the limited time at practice, and he's already pretty advanced for only having a few practices. He's improving a great deal."

Whatever the reasons for coach Paterno's change of heart, the Nittany Lion grapplers expect to benefit.

"He's a battler and he really likes the competition," assistant coach Dave Hart said. "He's a scrapper all the way. I'm glad Coach Paterno changed his mind."