Coe’s Weymiller right back where he almost started his career

Steve Staker got his man ... a year later.

The Coe College football coach recruited out of Waukon High School and thought he had the legacy Kohawk.

Weymiller - whose brother, Ross, was an all-Iowa Conference linebacker at Coe in the mid-2000s - was enrolled and ready to begin football practice. Then he changed his mind.

Desiring to follow his father, David, and other family members, Weymiller enrolled at Iowa State and joined the football team as a walk-on. One year in the big time sent him back to Coe.

“I liked it there, liked the school and everything,” Weymiller said. “But I guess I just wanted the opportunity to play football four years instead of possibly one.”

Weymiller made an immediate impact for Coe (2-0), which opens its Iowa Conference schedule today at home at 1 p.m. against Luther.

Blocked by three outstanding returning starters at linebacker, the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder has moved to defensive end for the first time. Weymiller has 19 tackles in two games, fourth in the IIAC.

“I expected it just because I knew his brother,” Staker said. “He always gets after it, and that's how his brother was.”

“It's a lot different being down with the big boys,” Weymiller said. “But I've kind of liked it so far, I guess. It's different. I'm still learning every day, every week.”

Another cool thing about this successful transition is doing it despite having an 18-inch metal rod in the middle of his right femur (thigh bone).

Doctors inserted it a couple of years ago after discovering a non-cancerous cyst in the femur. Afraid that athletics activity would eventually shatter the weakened bone, doctors inserted the rod.

“I can't feel it,” Weymiller said. “But (the thigh area) definitely gets sore during two-a-days and things like that. During the season, it'll get real sore. But it hasn't affected me on the field.”