Our very own Rancho Cucamonga High school senior, Landon Toll, committed to the University of San Diego to continue his football career as an outside linebacker.

Toll shared his journey with football and how the last four years of high school led to a Division 1 offer.

While the year 2020 changed things for many student-athletes,with commitments to sports looking a bit different this year, Toll shares his experience, “It’s such an amazing feeling to have trusted God throughout the toughest 8 months of my life before I committed. I trusted in Him, and in the end, I got the opportunity to commit to my dream school.”

Starting a career in any sport takes dedication and definitely sprouts from somewhere. Toll said his first experience playing football was “playing in a flag football league my 8th-grade year ran by my church (Hillside Community Church). This was one of my favorite football memories, getting to play with all my brothers and having the best time playing with them.”

While his dream of playing football started at a very young age, Toll said other factors came into his decision to commit to the University of San Diego. He said, “Location and education were my two biggest priorities when choosing which school to commit to. San Diego is a perfect location for my family and I, only about a two-hour drive from home. And the education aspect was the perfect fit for me. USD is a top-notch business school which is what I wanted to major in business admin.”

Although sports are on hold for the students at RCHS, Toll provided some advice to future scholar-athletes on campus. Toll said, “If you’re ever thinking of playing football, do it I almost didn’t play football my freshman year. Some of the guys I was competing with had been playing for 8-10 years whereas I had never played a real football season before high school. The most important thing that I learned is that effort, hard work, determination, and faith will always outperform talent. The most important thing to have in football is determination and faith; if you have those two things, you can accomplish anything you can think of.”

With the endless support of friends and family during this process, Toll expressed his gratitude towards the people that helped him get to this point where he is today.

“Above all, I would not be in the position I am in today without God. He has had me endure very tough times to get to the place I am in today. My family has supported me at all of my games and teams. A very big thank you to all my Coaches for always making me finish that extra rep in the weight room and for always perfecting my craft as an athlete (Coach Dauser, Coach Verti, Coach Fonua, Coach Garner). But the most important person to influence my football career is my dad. He was at almost every practice, pushed me to become a better athlete, he always believed in me and made me the man and athlete I am today. Thank you, dad.”

Looking towards the future, Toll is not slowing down any time soon. When asked about his future aspirations, he responded with “…to one day own my own company that will have a location near the beach and or in Hawaii” or “..another career option is following my dad’s footsteps and becoming a Fire Captain to save people’s lives.”

In regards to playing football, Toll said, “after college I would love to have an opportunity from God to play in the CFL, XFL, or NFL.” He added, “I want to set myself up now to have the opportunity down the road to be able to choose between either one of these career paths.”

Toll continues to strive within his sport and the next chapter of his life, entering college. Toll’s experiences set him up for a spotlight on him today and for his bright future ahead.