McBride brothers glad to hit each other again

B OULDER» If something could be made into a competition in the McBride household growing up, it was.

Things that aren’t a contest for most families — who could drink their milk the fastest, who can eat the most food, who could bounce the highest on the trampoline — became part of a daily routine for the trio of McBride brothers.

So when they were introduced to football, it makes sense they just couldn’t stop competing.

“I do remember when we first started out playing tackle football, we’d do the old Oklahoma drill where you go head to head in our front yard,” Trey said. “Me and my twin brother, Dylan, and Toby, as soon as we got our pads, we were out there all night just tackling each other.

“(Toby) always had to show that he was stronger than all of us and put me and my brother in our place. He definitely let us know he was the bigger brother.”

The eldest McBride had two years on his younger brothers growing up, but it didn’t stop the trio from battling any way they could, even if it meant playing tackle football on gravel.

Without much grass around their house, this was the only option. Looking at the football players Toby and Trey have developed into at Colorado State, it’s certainly easy to see the effects of that gritty football beginning. How else would you describe someone who considers a dislocated shoulder a “little bump” or a torn posterior cruciate ligament “very minor”?

Toby is working his way back to the top of the depth chart in the middle of the defensive line, while Trey is part of a talented group of tight ends for the Rams in 2019. And the brotherly competition hasn’t gone anywhere.

“Even though we’re not going against each other head to head every rep, we still make the note to make sure who’s winning,” Toby said. “If the play comes and I’m chasing down the ball, I’ll make sure to push him around a bit and let him know.”

For the first time since their high school days at Fort Morgan, the duo will be on the field together this fall. Toby has not played since suffering a back injury four games into his sophomore season in 2017, which forced him to miss the remainder of that year and all of 2018. Trey, meanwhile, got a season under his belt as a true freshman last fall.

As this spring camp rolled around and Toby received clearance to rejoin the team in almost full capacity, the two remembered what it was like to go against each other.

Just as Toby was hitting his stride, though, he experienced another setback, this time in the form of the PCL tear. It kept him out the rest of the spring.

But as he did for the previous year and a half, the defensive lineman stayed patient until his time finally came again in the Rams’ first fall scrimmage last weekend.

He recorded 4½ tackles for loss and 2½ sacks. The showing was good enough to vault Toby back into the first-string on the D-line.