Hard work, perseverance led South's Weber to sign with NDSCS
Feb. 2—CHEYENNE — When the two first met, Cheyenne South senior Tyson Weber told Bison head football coach Eli Moody that he would one day play football in college.
Through hard work, perseverance and dedication, Weber proved all his doubters wrong. Wednesday night at the Cheyenne South auditorium, the senior signed his national letter of intent to continue his football career at North Dakota State College of Science.
"It means the world to me (to be here signing my letter of intent)," Weber said. "This is what I have wanted since I was a kid."
Weber's road to college football was anything but easy. South has had its issues with athletics, and has not seen the results others in Class 4A have seen, which likely caused Weber to be overlooked.
He is also an undersized football player, standing just shy of 6 feet tall. This has caused people throughout his life to tell him he would not be able to one day realize his dream of playing in college.
But Weber persevered and didn't let the negativity impact him. Instead of letting the doubts and naysayers get to him, he used it as fuel to work even harder and get better.
While there were some tough days during the recruiting process, when schools were not contacting him, he leaned on his coach to help get him through it.
"He came and asked for advice every day, and I just gave him the best advice that I could," Moody said. "He just put the work in and made it happen."
After reaching out to a number of different schools, Weber was finally contacted by North Dakota State College of Science — a junior college in Wahpeton, North Dakota. From the moment he spoke with the coaches, Weber knew it was the place for him.
"Since the first phone call I had with (coach Eric Issendorf), that is where I wanted to be," Weber said. "The virtual tour they gave me was amazing, the conversations with the people there were amazing, and the campus was amazing."
Throughout the course of his time at South, Weber has been a mainstay for the Bison. Since Moody took over, Weber has been one of the leaders he can rely on.
"He was one of the steady ones," Moody said. "He started every game last year, and started every game this year. His big thing was that he kind of helped with the roller coaster of emotions. He stayed even and was that guy that helped keep the team somewhat grounded."
Weber joins a junior-college team that saw a tremendous amount of success last season. The Wildcats finished the year with a 9-2 record and made it all the way to the NJCAA Division III championship game.
While he is ecstatic to play collegiate ball, Weber's ambitions extend far beyond just playing at a junior-college level. The senior said he hopes to use his time at NDSCS to hone his skills and springboard himself into a bigger university.
"They send a lot of people to higher places, and they become better ball players," Weber said. "It kind of sets the bar high because that is what I want to do."
Weber has yet to decide what he wants to major in while he is in college. However, one thing he knows for certain is that he wants to play football.
Matt Atencio covers Laramie County prep sports for WyoSports. He can be reached at matencio@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter at @MattAtencio5.
