USD Magazine, Fall 2001

Blood, Sweat, and No Tears Torero Football preparation combines a grueling mix of strength training, conditioning and endless drills.

players now come from the West, but we're establishing a profile char will attract top high school players from across the country and rake our team ro the next level." The Toreros can rake a big step in chat direction rhis year. This season, the five– member Pioneer Football League added a four-team southern division. The division winners will face off Nov. 17 to decide the PFL championship, hosted by rhe winner of the northern division. For these nine schools,

Division I football into two categories. The megabucks programs com– pete in I-A; USD plays in the I-AA category, a mixed bag of large and small schools, some of which offer as many as 65 foot-

Being a celebrity isn't in the cards for Torero football players, and they don't care.

"I knew that going from high school ro college the game would be a lot faster and harder," says freshman Jeff Langdon, "but it was even harder than I expected. The reams at this level make you use everything you have, physically and mentally." USD has never finished higher than second place in the league, and that on ly happened once, in 1997. The Toreros have never beaten Dayton, and topped Drake only twice in nine cries. The rest of the schedule is no cakewalk. Outside che league, USD plays rough California schools such as Azusa Pacific and Universiry of Redlands, and the scenic home location helps attract Ease Coast opponents like Georgerown Universiry, Yale and Brown. "We play a hard schedule, but we play ic competitively and it gets us noticed," says head coach Kevin McGarry, who has been with che Toreros for 24 years. "Most of our Ba'• Gal a Nnr lama Senior DanaWhite is still receiving passes, but the shape of the ball has changed. After four standout seasons as a point guard for the USO basketball team, White traded his shorts and sneakers for a helmet and pads, joining the football Toreros as a wide receiver. White, a two-time all-state receiv– er at his Phoenix, Ariz., high school, was recruited by Arizona State and UNLV to play football, but picked USO for academics and the chance to play basketball. A first– team All-West Coast Conference pick and the basketball team's most valuable player last year, White already is making an impact on the gridiron, pulling down his first touchdown pass of the season in USD's Sept. 9 victory over University of Redlands.

ball scholarships, while others provide no extra financial assistance for football players. Most run the gamut in between. In searching for Division I opponents, Iannacone made contact with the Aedgling Pioneer Football League. Composed of Midwestern colleges that had competed at other NCAA levels, the league philosophy is that qualiry football and high academic stan– dards are not mutually exclusive. To keep play competitive and fair, league members agreed not to offer football scholarships. USD joined the PFL for its inaugural season in 1993. While nor well-known, USD's opponents aren't pushovers. PFL reams like Ohio's Universiry of Dayton and Iowa's Drake Universiry hail from the nation's heartland, where football is a staple and the corn-fed players often rower over the Toreros.

Hustle Up! Head Coach Kevin McGarry oversees four to five practices a week. it's the equivalent of a major bowl game. And che Toreros - with more than 25 sen ior players and the ream's first 3-0 scare since 1990, including a key PFL vicrory over Drake - plan on getting ro chat game. "Sure, we've all talked about bringing the PFL championship to USD," says Slusser, who chis season set rhe Torero all-rime record for interceptions. "When we played Yale in 1997 and Torero Stadium sold out, it definitely was the most exciting game we ever played. This would be bigger."

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FA LL 2001