Not only did Land O'Lakes' Drew Weatherford put up impressive stats, he exhibited the intangibles that helped it to another region final.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published December 23, 2003
LAND O'LAKES - Any football player wants his senior year to be special. But quarterback Drew Weatherford had a problem: his junior year.
In 2002, he threw for 2,645 yards and led the state with 39 touchdown passes. Weatherford also guided Land O'Lakes to a school-record 12-1 season and first region final, losing to the eventual state champion. He was on ESPN. He committed early to Florida State.
How to top that as a senior? Weatherford still dreamed of being Mr. Football, of setting state passing records, of winning a state title.
He never dreamed of being under .500.
His team fell to 1-3, then 2-4, and his senior year was near ruin. For the first time in the four-year starter's career, his team had a losing record.
"I was really frustrated because I've been giving my heart and soul ever since I was a kid," Weatherford said. "And you come out your senior year, your final year, the year you want to be remembered for, and everything's gone bad."
In that adversity, the Times 2003 All-Suncoast Player of the Year proved more than he ever did in success. His junior year will be remembered for his gaudy statistics. His senior year will be remembered for the intangibles: leadership, patience, perseverance and will.
The Gators (8-5) rallied for a six-game win streak, the district title and a return to the region final. Land O'Lakes' season ended in a 44-35 shootout with Class 4A runner-up Lakeland Lake Gibson.
Before Weatherford, the Gators had won one playoff game in nine tries in 24 years. With him, Land O'Lakes bucked Pasco County's tradition of playoff flameouts, going 4-2 during the past two postseasons.
Along the way, the 6-foot-3, 202-pound Weatherford threw for a county-record 7,657 yards and 79 touchdowns, ran for 1,070 yards and 20 touchdowns, went 34-14 as a starter and even called his own plays.
This year, Weatherford found himself contributing in ways he never had before. No longer could his team afford to keep its best athlete off defense. In his first season starting at safety, he tied for fourth in the state with eight interceptions and was second on the team with 75 tackles and 15 assists.
It was worth the wait for Weatherford, who spent the previous three years begging to play defense. The Class 4A player of the year finished third in Mr. Football voting but was the only candidate to start both ways.
"I wanted to prove to everybody that I wasn't just a good quarterback," Weatherford said, "that I was a football player."
He did that and then some. He was the team's leading scorer and best short-yardage back, rushing for 470 yards and 10 touchdowns and converting countless short-yardage situations. And he still could throw it, going 172-of-339 for 2,643 yards, 20 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, overcoming shaky blocking and receiving early. "This season, I think, just really determined his worth to this football team," Land O'Lakes coach John Benedetto said. "You could tell early in the season he was trying to do too much. We were young and inexperienced. We needed time to develop some of these younger players. And as a result, everybody was keying on Andrew. And he was trying to do too much, and we weren't winning football games.
"Then as time went on and these kids developed and got the experience we were asking for, they became a much better football team and Andrew became a much better football player."
Weatherford never gave up on his teammates. But he wondered: Was he getting through to them?
See, he is a senior in name only. He grew up with last season's class, which spent many years building toward 2002's 12-1 run. But Weatherford spent last summer on the celebrity recruit circuit, traveling to camps. So he didn't bond with this team like he did that one.
That's why he took the losing so personally. To him, it meant he wasn't the leader he believed he was. In the end, it taught him his most important lesson.
"Not to give up on my teammates," Weatherford said. "It can turn around at any time. I was never on a team that was 2-4. It was so bad. It was like I was more of a leader last year than this year. Kids just weren't listening.
"Then in the middle of the year, the good seeds started rubbing off on some of the other kids who weren't really working hard."
No one was a bigger influence than Weatherford. A 24-21 loss at Wesley Chapel on Sept. 26 stood out to Benedetto. It might have been the finest all-around game of Weatherford's career: 177 passing yards, two touchdown passes, 36 rushing yards, a touchdown run, 12 tackles, two assists and two interceptions.
But what he did afterward isn't on the stat sheet.
"We came back from the Wesley Chapel game, after going 1-3, and where do the players go?" Benedetto said. "With their leader out to the 50-yard line to talk and cheer, about how they're going to correct their mistakes and go out on Monday and prepare for the next game.
"I think we learned something about coaching from that game because that inspired us as well. It kept us together and willing to work hard week after week, and that paid off for us."
Paid off in the first consecutive region finals in Pasco County history, the only payoff for which Weatherford cares.
"It's all about the postseason, and without a doubt, this season was a great accomplishment for our team," he said. "We weren't as talented as we were last year, but it didn't matter.
"We came together, and it just goes to show you there's a lot more to football than just talent."
