Fort Morgan’s Toby McBride (32) evades a tackler during the 2014. (Photo courtesy of Toby McBride)
It’s been a long time since Fort Morgan High School could brag about a Division I football recruit. But Toby McBride changed all that Tuesday night when he announced his commitment to play Colorado State.
McBride, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound star for the Mustangs, became the first Division I commit out of the school since 2006. That’s not bad for a kid who had a legitimate choice between two sports.
On top of being a beast on the gridiron, McBride is a two-time state wrestling champion. He won the 220-pound division in Class 4A in 2015 and 2014. But when push came to shove, he decided that his sport of choice was football.
And he won’t be playing far from home either.
Less than 24 hours after announcing his commitment, he chatted with us about his choice to head to Fort Collins as well as what being a multi-sport star did for his ability to get recruited.
McBride with new CSU coach Mike Bobo. (Photo courtesy of Toby McBride)
Q: Let’s start with the obvious one. Why did you choose Colorado State?
Toby McBride: I had been on the campus the most, compared to all the other colleges (that I visited). After camp and being coached by their coaches, I felt that they are what they say they are and that they’re going to stay for a while and be contending for a Mountain West (Conference) championship.
Q: Does your approach change now going into this season in the sense that now you’re officially a Division I player and now you have to live up to that expectation?
McBride: No, I’ve always felt that I’d be a Division I player someday and that it would come with hard work. More pressure has just been taken off of me knowing I don’t have to decide a college instead of trying to prove that I am good enough. I’m more concentrated on having a winning season and going to the playoffs with my team.
Q: Going into your senior year, has your approach been any different now that you can reflect on this being the last high school training camp you’re going into?
McBride: Yeah, it’s my senior year so I know what needs to be done. I’m going to be able to step up more for my teammates and lead them through my last season. Obviously I want it to be my best. I just need to know that this is the last chance to win a state title.
Q: You have a couple of individual state titles under your belt in wrestling, were you ever torn between wrestling and playing football in college?
McBride: Yeah. Being a good wrestler, my coaches told me that I should start looking into wrestling in college and maybe doing both. After I won (NHSCA) nationals, I started getting a lot of calls from big-time wrestling colleges that wanted to start recruiting me. I decided that football is what I enjoy doing more and see the most success in my future with so that’s what I’ve decided to do.
Q: There’s a lot talk these days that kids need to not specialize, that they need to diversify themselves in as many sports as possible. From your standpoint, having to make that choice, how challenging is that to have to choose one of two or three sports that you want to play in college?
McBride: I guess my parents made that choice for me when I was five-years-old. They wanted me to be able to earn a scholarship. With so many family members, it would be hard for them to pay for everyone going to college. One of our family friends told them that college coaches like to recruit players who are wrestlers over basketball players, baseball players, stuff like that. So that’s when they put me in pee wee wrestling and that’s what I’ve done since.
It wasn’t more as a sport that I like doing, but a sport that’s a perk. I tell college coaches I wrestle and I’m successful at it, so I’ll be a better football player and it compliments my game.
Q: How did the coaches react when you were telling them that?
McBride: They liked that I’m a wrestler. From all the college coaches I’ve talked to, they like recruiting wrestlers more than anything else. To hear that I’m a successful wrestler, the other thing I know is leverage and all that other kind of stuff.
Q: What’s been the best moment of your high school athletic career thus far?
McBride: Probably going to the playoffs with my football team last year. The whole playoff experience is the most fun I’ve had in high school sports.
McBride at CSU. (Photo courtesy of Toby McBride)
Q: Rivals said you are the first Division I commit from your school since 2006. What does that tell you about your abilities?
McBride: It’s big for my town. I’ve been doubted a lot by people in my town. It hasn’t happened much in Fort Morgan. It just drives me more to get better. But the people that are closest to me and my coaches, they’ve always believed I’ve been able (to go Division I) and that just helps me perform better.
Q: Do you feel that you have bragging rights now that you’ve proven those doubters wrong?
McBride: I don’t think so. I don’t like to show off too much. I really don’t want to say that I’m better than anyone because of what I’m doing or anything like that.