Weatherly discusses Vandy commitment

About twelve days ago Vanderbilt received three commitments in one day and all three were from the state of Georgia. Stephen Weatherly, the 6-4, 197 pounder was one of those commitments. The North Atlanta athlete spoke about his commitment with VandyMania.com.

“The day before [my commitment] me and my family were talking about all of the different options that I had and when would be a good time [to commit],” said Stephen Weatherly. “I talked to my head coach and he told me whenever I feel comfortable to go ahead and call Vanderbilt and let the coaches know that I am ready. The next day I saw another kid commit to Vanderbilt so I took that as an opportunity to go ahead and make the call.”

In the end it was Vandy’s impressive combo that won him over.

“Vanderbilt has an excellent combination of academics and athletics,” he said. “They are the best of the best in engineering, which is what I want to major in, and also they are in the SEC which is the toughest football conference. I saw it as a win-win.”

Even though it has only been ten days, Weatherly and the other Vanderbilt commitments have already started working on completing the rest of their recruiting class.

“We are all friends on facebook and we are part of one big group called 'Vanderbilt Recruits and Commitments,'” said Weatherly. “We are already talking to other recruits that are thinking about Vanderbilt. We are telling them why we committed and some of the things that we like about Vanderbilt.”

Weatherly played a number of positions last season but the Commodores plan to use him at outside linebacker. Last season he registered 66 tackles, 14 sacks, 2 INT’s, and two forced fumbles on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive side of the ball he had 12 catches for 250 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Weatherly plans on continuing to work hard so that he might have an opportunity to shine as a true freshman.

“Whenever I talk to the coaching staff, they tell me I am going to be a big impact on the field especially if I come in and work hard,” he said. “They haven’t guaranteed anything but they said if I work hard and prove myself then I can definitely start my freshman year.”

Weatherly chose the Commodores over schools such as Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, NC State, and Ole Miss. While it is a long time until National Signing Day, he is confident in his decision and plans on only visiting one campus this summer.

“I am a solid commitment so I don’t plan on going anywhere this summer except to Vanderbilt,” he said.