Four-star settles in California
Four-star offensive tackle Darrion Weems (6-6, 285, 4.9) had a difficult decision to make. He was one of many who saw their lives change forever because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Weems was one of many who became homeless after Katrina. He ended up in California and played his junior season at Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft. Sometime after the season, Weems packed his bags and headed east ending up at Cedar Hill, Texas.
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Soon Weems had a dilemma. Would he return to California or stay in Texas to continue his high school education and football career.
"It was a tough decision because Cedar Hill has a great football program, great coaches and great players," Weems said. "But the truth is I missed California.
"I'm from the big city, I'm from New Orleans and I settled in California after the Hurricane. Los Angeles is my home now. It was really that simple.
"When I arrived in California I was greeted with open arms and I have great teammates at Taft. How could I let them down? You get close to people when you play football. It was a football thing."
"I was getting kind of close to my guys in Texas, too," Weems said. "But it was different. You get real close to guys when you play in games."
Though Weems has only been in town for a short while, he will be hitting the road to attend Oregon's Camp this weekend and at this time it looks like that will be the only camp he will attend this summer.
"At the moment, Oregon is probably my No.1 school," Weems said. "I also like Michigan, USC and Texas A&M a lot."
Look for Weems to have double-duty this fall for Taft.
"In New Orleans, I played both offensive tackle and defensive end," Weems said. "This season at Taft I'm probably going to go both ways. I'm going to still line up at offensive tackle, but I could also play defensive tackle or defensive end."
Does Weems have a preference of what side of the ball he will like to play on the D-I level?
"I really like to play offense," Weems said. "When I was young I liked to hit people so defense was it for me, but now I'm beginning to understand offense and I like it a lot."
Weems has offers on the table from Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Boston College, Baylor, Utah, Colorado State, Michigan State, Kansas and Tulane.
Now that Weems is finally settled in California look for him to receive more offers.