XFL Demise Hits Home For Former Wolfpack Players
Violet Jessup was a nurse from Ireland who was on the Titanic the night it sank on April 12, 1912. Four years later, she was on another ship -- the Britannic -- that also ended up at the bottom of the ocean.
Jack Tocho has probably never heard of her. But he might have an idea as to what she went through.
Tocho was one of the 416 football players that were essentially laid off on Friday when the XFL announced that it is ceasing operations, with no plans for returning in 2021. Two other former NC State defensive backs, Mike Stevens and Johnathan Alston, are also among those out of jobs.
Why does that give Tocho a connection to Violet Jessup?
Because last year, almost to the day, he was a player in the Alliance of American Football -- better known as the AAF -- when it also ended up on the scrap heap of scrap heap of failed professional sports leagues.
Tocho, a 6-foot, 202-pound cornerback who played for the Wolfpack from 2013-16 and was a starter for the XFL's Los Angeles Wildcats. He had two interceptions and was credited with 19 tackles in the five games his team played.
The former seventh round draft pick of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings also had 19 tackles, along with one interception and a fumble recovery in 2019 during his eight-week AAF career with the Birmingham Iron.
One of Tocho's teammates on the Wildcats was fellow former Wolfpack Stevens. Also a cornerback, Stevens had 26 tackles, two interceptions and a sack when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus crisis.
Alston, meanwhile, finished with two tackles in limited action as a backup cornerback for the Seattle Dragons.
