Arena League

Toliver is eager to settle score

Nashville WR/DB still is bothered by the circumstances surrounding his recent trade from the Storm.

By FRANK PASTOR
Published April 24, 2005

T.T. Toliver knew his days with the Storm were numbered when then-interim coach Dave Ewart told him not to come to practice two days after a 59-28 loss to Los Angeles last month.

Two days later, the fourth-year wide receiver/defensive back was dealt to Nashville.

As he prepares to face his former team for the first time, it's not the trade that bothers Toliver. It's the way he says the news was delivered.

"The coaches haven't called me," Toliver said. "It was very unprofessional. That's the thing I regret about Tampa right now. The coaches are very unprofessional. They didn't call me to tell me I was traded or what. I heard it through other players. But they're going to get theirs."

Toliver hopes payback comes today, when the Storm plays at Nashville. Coming off consecutive games in which he accumulated more than 100 total yards, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and 2004 All-Ironman selection plans to show coach Tim Marcum's staff what he can do now that he feels he is being used properly.

"They use me a lot more than they used me in Tampa," Toliver said. "They use me a lot more ways on offense and try to stretch the field vertically. Tampa used me more as a defensive guy."

Toliver, 28, said he sensed his time in Tampa Bay was drawing short after the March 26 loss to Los Angeles. With Ewart overseeing the team during Marcum's recent suspension for salary-cap violations, Toliver was fined $500 "for being late to a meeting I never had."

(Marcum said the Storm fined Toliver for "conduct that was not in the best interests of the team.")

Toliver believes his fate was sealed in the locker room after the loss. He said he was telling his teammates, "We didn't execute what we went out to do," when he was grabbed by assistant coach Steve DeBerg. Toliver said he was dealt, in part, because he spoke back to DeBerg, telling him, "Don't grab me no more."

Toliver said Ewart called him the March 28 and told him, "Don't worry about coming in."

Ewart acknowledged Toliver was vocal in the locker room and at the airport after the game but said he wasn't aware of any incident involving DeBerg.

"What went on is in the past," Ewart said. "The organization wanted to go in a different direction. That happens in this business."

Two days after Ewart told him not to show for practice, Toliver said teammates told him he had been dealt to Nashville for defensive specialist Fred Booker, who is on the New Orleans Saints roster and did not play for the Kats this season.

"We never did sit down and talk face to face when (Marcum) released me or anything," Toliver said. "We're professionals, and if you were the coach, you're supposed to call the player in his office and let him know what you released a player or traded a player for. But I never did get that."

Though he received permission from the league to negotiate trades in the days leading up to the March 30 deadline, Marcum said he was not permitted to be in his office or to have contact with players because of his suspension.

Ewart said he and assistant Mark Stoute both called Toliver the day the trade was completed.

The Storm (7-4) has won three straight since dealing Toliver and receiver/linebacker David Saunders, who was sent to Grand Rapids a day earlier. Marcum said the team's attitude has improved but declined to get into specifics.

"I'm not going to get into all the bull----," Marcum said. "But if you don't act like a professional, you're not staying around here. That's just it."

Toliver and Saunders have had off-field problems. Both were arrested in April 2004 on charges of possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, court records show. Saunders pleaded no contest, and adjudication was withheld. The charges against Toliver were dismissed.

Since arriving in Nashville, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Toliver has been a "joy" off the field and on (11 receptions, 181 yards, four touchdowns in two games), coach Pat Sperduto said.

"He's been receptive," Sperduto, a former Storm player and assistant coach, said. "Obviously, he's been an exceptional player, but more than that he's been a pleasant surprise as a young man. He just needs guidance, somebody to say, "Hey, look, there's more coming, more than what you do on the field.' "

For Toliver, that means getting his college degree and becoming a better father to his young son. Sperduto has requested transcripts and student loan information from Bethune-Cookman and chats daily with Toliver about his off-field responsibilities.

Toliver, who lives in Tampa during the offseason, said he plans to move to Nashville and liver there year-round.

"I'm doing good," he said. "People are treating me good. It's a good atmosphere here."

[Last modified April 24, 2005, 01:03:20]