Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

September 8, 2012

Transfer student excited in UMaine football debut

David Toriola, who has a season of eligibility after graduating from Marist, hits the big stage.

By Glenn Jordan gjordan@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

ORONO - Last winter, with graduation from Marist College on the spring horizon, David Toriola considered his options.

He could accept his degree in business with an emphasis on marketing and try to find a decent entry-level job amid an atmosphere of economic uncertainty he viewed as "kind of scary."

Or with a remaining season of eligibility because he redshirted as a Marist freshman, he could test the football waters outside his school's non-scholarship Pioneer League campus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

He noticed that Maine was graduating its two starting defensive tackles and contacted defensive line coach Dennis Dottin-Carter to see whether the Black Bears might be interested in a 6-foot-3, 290-pound graduate student.

"We figured, hey, we had a need at that position," Dottin-Carter said. "We should definitely explore it."

After watching film of Toriola, the Maine staff invited him to Orono. In January. Amid temperatures that dropped 12 degrees below zero.

Toriola, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., loved it.

"Everything about Maine was positive and good energy," he said. "It was one of my best college visits."

Maine offered a scholarship and Toriola, now working toward a masters in liberal arts (a degree not offered by Marist, which is why the transfer was permissible by the NCAA), will find himself butting helmets with Boston College this afternoon in Chestnut Hill, Mass., before a crowd expected to approach 40,000.

"That's a pretty big jump but he's capable," Dottin-Carter said. "He's got the tools and the talent. And it's not like he's a freshman. He's a fifth-year guy who is 22 years old."

Toriola will play defensive tackle in a rotation likely to include Kris Enslen, Matt Wilson, Devin Clark and Alban Dedvujak. Only Enslen, a senior, has starting experience for Maine.

They will face a Boston College offensive line that averages 6-foot-6 and 306 pounds -- three inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than Maine's average defensive lineman.

"They've got some big boys but I've seen big (offensive) linemen my entire life," Toriola said. "Size is something that doesn't really determine the outcome of a game. Individually it comes down to how bad you want it and how much you've prepared.

"And I know I'm prepared very well for this game."

Dottin-Carter said Toriola is the first graduate student transfer to play for Maine. In recent years, quarterback Warren Smith (from Iona) and defensive tackle Omar Jacobs (from Hofstra) transferred to Orono without having to sit out a season because their schools dropped football.

"We expected him to be a guy who could come in and win a starting position," said Coach Jack Cosgrove, "and he's done that for us."

Toriola had to earn his job -- and learn a new system -- in training camp because he missed spring practice while finishing up requirements for his undergraduate degree.

Getting up to speed wasn't easy. Toriola called it one of the toughest camps he's been through. He contended with fatigue and soreness but never doubted his ability to play at this higher level.

"It ended up working out for the best because I'm probably in the best shape I've ever been," he said.

"It's really going to be benefit me on the field."

At Marist he never played before a crowd larger than the 6,000 or so who watched his rivalry high school game at St. John's University between his own St. Francis Prep and nearby Holy Cross.

"They're about a mile from each other," Toriola said. "We won that game 14-7 and we never let 'em forget it."

Saturday's game at Boston College might turn out to be equally unforgettable.

"That is going to be exciting," he said. "I've never played in that kind of atmosphere. Hopefully it works out in my favor. I know I feed off a big crowd and a big spotlight."

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH

 

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