AJ Tolbert didn't play high school football.
It would appear that Rocky Mountain College's senior receiver never missed a beat in his time away from the game.
Tolbert, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound playmaker out of Compton was listed as one of the top 10 wide receivers in the NAIA by Victory Sports Network entering the 2011 season. He came on strong at the end of last season, surpassing 100 yards receiving in four of Rocky's final six games. His best game of the year — a two touchdown, 137-yard performance — came against Carroll College.
"Carroll's such a great team, and Coach (Brian Armstrong) comes up with a good game plan when we play them," Tolbert said. "Coach just put me higher in the game plan that time."
When the two teams first met last season, on Sept. 4, Tolbert had eight receptions for 125 yards and a score at Nelson Stadium. Saints coach Mike Van Diest knows that containing Tolbert when the Saints take on the Battlin' Bears today will be key to his team's success.
"We've gotta be able to match up with him," Van Diest said. "Last year we had guys in position and they didn't go up and make the plays and he outran us down here for a touchdown then he beat us a couple times there. He's just a great receiver and it's a mismatch physically."
Tolbert said he played football as a kid growing up, but quit the sport when he reached high school so he could instead focus on basketball.
"It finally occured to me that basketball wouldn't take me as far," he said.
In his junior year with the Bears, people began to take notice of the lanky receiver who could seemingly catch anything that came his way, whether it was a deep ball or a bubble screen. Tolbert finished the 2010 campaign with 52 catches for 892 yards and 10 touchdowns and led the Frontier Conference a year ago with 81.1 receiving yards per game. Armstrong figures now he'll be on teams' radar as opponents prepare to play Rocky.
"He'll be good if we can get him the ball," the Rocky coach said. "Obviously we have something to do with that, but so does defense. Most people will have some kind of plan for him I would think."
Tolbert has had to adjust to a new quarterback this year after the athletic Kasey Peters graduated. Redshirt freshman Bryce Baker took over under center, but the tandem didn't seem to miss a beat in Rocky's 38-3 season-opening win over Dickinson State. Tolbert found the end zone twice last Saturday and finished with a team-best seven catches for 79 yards.
On an offense with several new faces, Tolbert will be depended on for more than his good hands and speed. The Bears will look to him for senior leadership as well.
"I just try to be a leader by example," he said. "I'm not really that outspoken, I just lead by putting up numbers on the board."
Tolbert doesn't hide his confidence, adding that he wants to be the best player in the NAIA by the end of the season.
Already, Armstrong believes Tolbert has shown improvement over the summer.
"I think he's in better physical condition: stronger, faster, more mentally tough," Armstrong said. "There's a lot to be said for that senior motivation too, knowing it's the last opportunity your gonna get."
An area that Tolbert still needs to work on is becoming more consistent, his coach added.
Rocky's offense was explosive last season, averaging almost 450 yards per contest to give the Bears their first winning season since 1999. Tolbert was a big part of that production. Now, with all of their defensive starters returning, the Bears hope to be strong in all facets of the game to improve upon that 6-5 mark.
"Defensively we're gonna be a force to be reckoned with; hopefully offensively we will be, too," Tolbert said.
03 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGr9Ri_DoFVow1JDXHqfjTsJ6a9gQ&url=http://helenair.com/sports/college/carroll-college/football/carroll-college-gameday-containing-tolbert-a-tough-task/article_3b10b5a8-d602-11e0-a0e5-001cc4c03286.html
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