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Casey Toohill overcomes numerous obstacles, position changes, to make NFL
Former Stanford football player Casey Toohill has overcome long odds to earn his NFL chance with the Washington Football Team. (Photo: Karen Ambrose Hickey; Courtesy: Stanford Athletics)

Casey Toohill overcomes numerous obstacles, position changes, to make NFL

SAN DIEGO  (BVM) — Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th-century German philosopher, once said, “that which does not kill you, makes you stronger.” Today, this phrase continues to be used daily and has been proven true through studies showing how trauma survivors report positive changes and enhanced personal development. Though none of his experiences were traumatic, but merely inconvenient setbacks, NFL defensive end Casey Toohill has reminded himself of this mantra since the beginning of his career and has successfully made a living in sports by doing so. 

In 1996, Toohill was born into a family whose parents both attended the University of Notre Dame. Inevitably, he and his siblings began to follow the herd of loyal Fighting Irish fans by going to football games, tailgates and other sporting events. As Toohill got older, his love for sports grew. His parents enrolled him at St. James Academy in Solana Beach, Calif., for elementary and middle school. There, he began playing on teams in the parochial sports league that ran through the local parishes and their schools. While he gifted his school’s teams with his innate athleticism, he also began playing for different club basketball, flag football and baseball teams around north country San Diego. It was then he started to narrow his focus down to flag football and baseball.

“Baseball was my favorite sport growing up because that is what my brother played, and I was interested in collecting baseball cards and balls,” Toohill said.

He eventually narrowed his interests further by quitting baseball at a young age and turning all his attention to flag football. He was quick and highly aware of his surroundings, both of which are skills needed on the gridiron. Early in his playing career, Toohill was required by his parents to play in a flag or touch football league because they were scared he might receive a head injury at such a young age.

“My parents didn’t want me to play Pop Warner until I was a little bit older, which I thought was a smart decision,” Toohill said.

But when he entered the eighth grade, and his interest continued to deepen, his parents eventually allowed him to play Pop Warner. In this American youth football league, each child must wear full padding and helmets during practice and games. Because of his quickness and 5-foot-8 stature, his Pop Warner coaches played him as a running back. However, his position changed when Toohill began high school at Cathedral Catholic in San Diego.

During his first two years, Toohill had a massive growth spurt in which he sprouted to 6-foot-1. Consequently, Toohill lost some speed and agility, which are skills essential for running backs. Therefore, as he went to practice, he started playing positions on both sides of the ball and was eventually called up to be an outside linebacker. 

“I fell in love with the position,” Toohill said. 

Sometime around the position change, one of his friends noticed his passion and growth and told him he might have a shot at playing Division I ball if he kept improving. Soon though, an unfortunate string of injuries began for him. 

After he grew what seemed like a foot and tried out for his high school’s team, he was placed on the freshmen B team roster, the lesser of two groups. As if that was not discouraging enough, Toohill was injured early in the season and could not play the remaining games. Once he recovered and returned to practicing with the team, the newly appointed linebacker played a few games for the JV squad until he was hurt again and had to sit out the rest of the year. This cycle happened once more during Toohill’s junior season while on varsity. It was not until the summer before his senior year when he felt like he reached the peak of his high school career.

“I felt like there were a lot of things I had to prove after being out for so long… I had a lot of determination and drive from all the setbacks I had,” Toohill said. “[The setbacks] really drove me in the weight room and in drills and made me think about what I was doing.”

During the summer between his junior and senior year, Toohill attended various football camps at colleges like his parent’s alma mater, Notre Dame, as well as Boston College and Stanford. At each camp, he learned much about his own game and what he needed to improve. Toohill worked on the skills he learned, progressed every day and started to catch coaches’ attention around the country, including those hosting the camps. He eventually accepted an offer from Stanford at one of their events over other offers from schools like Boston College, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Washington State. The recruit then returned for his senior season and proved that he had what it takes to play Stanford football by following his commitment with his best high school season. 

“I think I had like twenty sacks, like I had a good year… it was good to see that come to fruition while I was committed to Stanford, so that was great,” Toohill said. 

Once he graduated and began school at Stanford, Toohill redshirted then began playing his second year for head coach David Shaw. While he did not receive much attention from Shaw his first year while he was redshirting, Toohill noticed how caring, intelligent and well-spoken he is as a coach. Their relationship became stronger once Toohill started to play in games, especially when he began to start at outside linebacker for the Cardinals. 

“We got a lot closer throughout the years, and at the end, we were really close, and I always respected him and knew he always cared about us as people,” Toohill said. 

At Stanford, the now 6-foot-5, 250pounder played in 41 games, assisting his team with 71 solo tackles, 14 sacks, four deflected passes and one interception. These statistics helped him earn awards and spots on different All-Pac-12 teams, but more importantly, they helped him get invited to the 2020 NFL Combine.

Toohill always had the idea of wanting to become a pro in the back of his mind but always made sure he put the present moment first. He tried to make as much of an impact as he could on whatever team, practice or game, so that if the opportunity ever did present itself, he would already have NFL coaches’ and teams’ attention.

“I was trying to take the little steps like being a good Stanford player and start,” Toohill said. “I was always concerned with what the next immediate goal was.”

Fortunately for Toohill, his plan worked. At the combine, he recorded a 40yard dash time of 4.62 seconds, a 39-inch vertical jump, a 10-foot-6 broad jump and 17 reps of  225 pounds on the bench press. These impressive numbers caught the eye of a few NFL coaches, including Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. So, during the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft, Toohill received a call from Pederson, who offered him a spot on the team.

“It was obviously very surreal and with my family around [it] was pretty incredible and the wave of texts and celebrations,” Toohill said. “It’s funny how many things have been calls, right? I got a call from Stanford. That was incredible. It is a cool reflection point — two of the biggest moments of my life have been phone calls.”

Despite being released by the Philadelphia Eagles last year, Toohill landed on his feet with the Washington Football Team. (Courtesy: @c2hill/Instagram)

A few weeks later, he was off to Philadelphia and ready to get to work. He helped the team with plays here and there and practiced with them but was unfortunately released after a couple of weeks. Nonetheless, Toohill remembered that, “what does not kill you makes you stronger.” So he worked hard and trained and was then picked up by the Washington Football Team. He finished the 2020 season there and is now getting ready to begin camp and training at the end of July again for this coming year. 

“In the NFL, you never know what’s going to happen, and you need to be prepared,” Toohill said. “Every day is a tryout in the NFL.”

While he gets ready for camp, Toohill keeps training and works out at his old high school now and then, where he keeps in touch with his old coaches and current players. He is always willing to advise and help train high school athletes who are working hard just like he did who may have the same dream he once had.