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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-flspdolphins29sbjul29,0,202763.story

Torbor, Ayodele look to pull off inside job

From NFC East rivals to Dolphins teammates vying for starting inside linebacker role

By Harvey Fialkov
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 29, 2008

DAVIE - With so much attention focused on which players are attempting to fill Jason Taylor's Pro Bowl shoes on the outside pass rush, not much has been said about the identities of the new inside men — Akin Ayodele and Reggie Torbor.

Ayodele and Torbor have gone from being rivals on NFC East powerhouses to Dolphins teammates vying for one of the starting inside linebacker roles on a rebuilt defense.

So, why would Torbor opt to leave the Super Bowl champion Giants after becoming a starter down the stretch to play for a team in flux coming off a 1-15 season?

"Let's throw that 1-15 out the window," said Torbor, who took over for injured linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka and helped the Giants win seven of their final 10 games while holding opponents to 3.2 yards per carry.

"Why wouldn't you want to come here? The opportunity to start, Bill Parcells, a new beginning, everyone's starting over, South Florida, weather's nice especially coming from Jersey. It's about being part of building something."

Ayodele, 28, didn't have the choice that Torbor, 27, then a free agent had, when the Dolphins braintrust – all former Cowboys honchos – pilfered him from the Cowboys on April 26, along with tight end Anthony Fasano for a 2008 fourth-round draft choice.

But he certainly came willingly to a coaching staff he was familiar with, especially Dolphins defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni, his position coach in Dallas, and head coach Tony Sparano, with whom he broke in as a rookie in Jacksonville in 2002.

"As long as I'm playing ball and I have a job," said the 6-foot-4, 245-pound Ayodele, who has averaged 80 tackles over his six-year career. "Our room was right next to the offensive linemen's room and we used to hear how [Sparano's] approach was, his speeches, quotes. He really understands his players, how to motivate them."

For now, Ayodele is working with the first-team defense, partly because of his run-stuffing experience in the 3-4 defensive alignment at Dallas. The 6-2, 245-pound Torbor is coming from the Giants' 4-3 scheme, where he was given more pass-rushing responsibilities as well as special-teams duties.

"It's a big difference going from the 4-3 to 3-4 where I'm going from the outside to the inside," said Torbor, who got a four-year deal worth $14 million on the first day of free agency.

Incumbent starting inside linebacker Channing Crowder is preparing to share the burden of filling the tackle void left by Taylor's brother-in-law, former Dolphins great Zach Thomas, who is now playing Ayodele's position in Dallas.

"Akin played the exact same defense in Dallas and Reggie played so much crazy stuff on the Giants with Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan, and everybody coming, he could play anything," Crowder said. "Both are amazing players."

Sparano loves Ayodele's, "position flexibility," and ability to make physical plays on game day, while he recalls how difficult it was to plan against Torbor in nickel situations.

"I really thought he was tough to block," Sparano said.

Ayodele holds no grudges against Torbor, whose sack of quarterback Tony Romo helped the Giants defeat the Cowboys one game shy of the NFC Championship, although Dallas had started the season 10-1 with two wins over New York.

"We want Reggie to talk about that late run, how they gelled and won every game they had to," Ayodele said. "There will be times this season we're going to need a guy that's been in clutch situations when we need to find a way to win."

Crowder jokes about Ayodele's reputation as a 'male model,' as Dolphins vice president of football operations Bill Parcells calls him, but he, too, would like to experience a Torbor-like playoff run.

"I've never been to the playoffs so the big question is how they turned it around from 0-2," Crowder said. "He brings that to us."

Torbor, who aspires to be a chef, believes Sparano and Parcells have the recipe for success.

"For me to explain it to you would be impossible, even after the game it didn't hit me until the parade," said Torbor, who played for coach Tom Coughlin, a former assistant of Parcells on the Giants' 1990 NFL champion team.

Sparano and Parcells are proponents of bringing in players from winning teams.

"When you bring players in from those kind of environments, and you're doing these things out here, it lends a little bit more validation to what you're trying to do," Sparano said.

Both of these guys are versatile and can fill JT's outside linebacker spot if Charlie Anderson and/or Quentin Moses don't pan out. 

Matter of fact, I can see that happening. 

With Torbor having more pass rushing experience, it would only seem natural that he play at OLB, and Adoyele at ILB.