Father knows LBs stock on rise

Some times it’s tough being critical of your son, but when you’re an assistant coach you have to be honest and that’s what Tommy Weatherspoon Sr., is about his son Tommy Jr. He knows that his son has plenty of talent, but he also knows that he has to stay focused on his future.

But the good thing about that is that it should be a very bright future.

Weatherspoon, a 6-foot-2, 240-plus pound inside linebacker from Jesup (Ga.) Wayne County, has seen his stock shoot through the roof this summer and he’s on the verge of earning some major scholarship offers. Well, he already has. He has offers from Cincinnati, Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee State, but father and son are hoping that with another solid season some bigger schools might come knocking.

“He knows that he’s going to have a lot of distractions,” his father said. “With football, grades, tests and recruiting it’s going to be tough for him to stay focused on what he has to do. But he can do it. I know he can.”

There is little doubt that Weatherspoon can come through when he puts his mind to it. Just check out what he did last season for an example of overcoming adversity.

Weatherspoon played in only eight games his junior year because of a broken wrist. In his first game back, he collected 18 tackles against Camden County. He did all of this while playing with a screw in is his wrist.

The injury is healed now and he’s hoping to earn more attention from the recruiters– especially the ones in Athens.

“He truly wants to go to Georgia,” his father said. “But Georgia is probably not going to look at him because of his size. He’s already 245, which is big for a linebacker. They thought he might be a defensive end for them. I’m telling him that he needs to keep his weight at a minimum if he wants to play linebacker. But he just keeps growing and growing.”

Guess father does know best after all. Weatherspoon knows that he must be both supportive and critical in the right areas.

“He might end up needing to play defensive end in college,” he said. “He knows that he’s going to have to defense the running back coming out of the backfield at his size. He gets around. I’m being open with you as a coach and a father, which is really hard some times.”