Community Corner
A Taste Of College Life For Woodbury's Rotto
Andrew Rose and Torsten Rotto will participate in the Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.
Torsten Rotto and Andrew Rose are getting glimpses of what their college lives will be like.
The Suburban East Conference stars are participating in the Minnesota High School All-Star Football game Saturday. The game will be played under the lights at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium.
In many ways, the week leading up to the All-Star game will be similar to their first days at college. They’ve bunked in the dorms, bonded with new teammates and will play in a collegiate stadium.
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Rose, formerly a linebacker for Stillwater, said a recent practice was his first time stepping out onto the turf of the 50,000-seat stadium. But most of those seats remained empty as the teams ran through plays.
“It’s pretty crazy,” said Rose, who will go on to play at St. John’s University next year. “It’ll be great once we have some fans here.”
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Rotto, who will represent the south all-stars Saturday and played for last season, will play outside linebacker for Stanford next season. He will study human biology and hopes to move on to the prestigious Stanford School of Medicine.
Both players have been working out over the summer in order to prepare for the next level. But Rotto’s initiation to college life may be a little rockier.
Rotto was recruited under Jim Harbaugh, who recently left Stanford to coach the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL.
Rotto said he’s not worried about how that change might affect him and what plans the new coaching staff has for him.
“I don’t think it will be anything too drastic,” Rotto said.
But before they move on to a more competitive level of football, Rose and Rotto have one final bout with their high school rivals. Rotto said he only knew a handful of his teammates coming into the week of practice, but it took just a matter of days to turn rivals into teammates.
“It’s gone from ‘Oh yeah, I hate that guy,’ to a cohesive team,” Rotto said. “It’s been fun.”
While both are enjoying the experience, they are just excited to be playing again for the first time since being knocked out of sections in November.
“I just want to go hit people, man,” Rotto said. “It’s been too long.”
