Junior offensive tackle Toby Weathersby was supposed to open the season in his hometown of Houston, Texas.
Instead, half of the city is underwater, and Weathersby is concerned about more than just the relocation of a football game.
“I was so excited to, you know, just to come home and now I won’t be able to come home until December or January,” Weathersby said. “ I know my people won’t be able to make it [to the game] because of shut off highways underwater. So it’s just one of those waiting processes. Just wishing for the best.”
Weathersby’s mother and grandparents are stranded in Houston floodwaters as they continue to rise. Weathersby said that his grandparents are stuck in their house, surrounded by water and they refuse to get on a rescue boat, while his mother is on the second floor of her apartment building.
“They’ve been so stubborn because they’ve been through many hurricanes,” Weathersby said. “They’re set in their ways, where they don’t want to lose their house so they’re just trying to ride it out. My mom was trying to get them to come over to the apartment, get on high grounds, but right now they don’t want to listen and it’s just getting worse and worse and it hasn’t stopped raining.”
Weathersby’s grandparents have lived in a neighborhood on the north side of Houston called Briar Creek for “twenty-something” years. To put in perspective of how high the waters have risen, he explained how his grandparents’ house is set up high on a hill.
“That’s the fort, you know, they want to hold it down,” Weathersby said. “Sometimes you just have to let go and let God just take the wheel. That’s something that it can always get replaced. You can always get another home, you can’t replace a life.”
“I know they don’t want to leave,” Weathersby added. “It’s kind of hard, because if I was there I would literally drag them out of there, pick them up and take them. But right now I can’t do anything. I can just wish and pray that everything will be alright.”
Now he knows that it’s out of his hands, but on Sunday night, Weathersby packed his truck and was ready to drive to Houston and save his family.
“I had to come to a realization that I have to leave that to the professionals,” he said. “ I just sat down and just thought about the situation and what I was going to be putting myself in. At the time I wasn’t even worried about the school or nothing. I was just worried about trying to get there, get my people and if I could bring them back here.”
Weathersby believes that his family is sugarcoating the severity of Harvey’s affect on his hometown, but he said he knows the situation and neighborhood well enough to understand.
Despite all the emotions that Weathersby has been through in the past week, he has been able to separate his personal life from football. Being at practice and being with his teammates has helped him focus on the season opener and for even just a moment, ease his mind of what his family is going through.
“I’m able to put things aside when I come over here,” Weathersby said. “I’m at that age where I know what I have to handle. So I know when I come over here, at some point in time I just have to, not necessarily flush, but put it to the side and come do what I have to do over here. Then once I leave here, you know, I’ll be able to take care of whatever I have to do back home.”
Weathersby’s support system, both on the team and otherwise, has helped him get through the week. He said he has nothing but respect for his teammates that have check on him and helped him through this time.
Weathersby said that he has also checked on the four other Houston natives on the team and that if their families are okay, it will give him a sense of hope.
At 6-foot-6-inches and 308 pounds, Weathersby is among the largest and toughest players on the team, but that doesn’t change how difficult it can be to deal with this situation alone.
“Everybody around here knows I don’t really show any emotion,” Weathersby said. “I’m a tough guy, so whatever’s going on inside me, I’m going to hide that and put on another face for everybody. I know around here everybody, I maybe not, but looks at me as a leader so I just try to keep a positive face, keep a smile on and still be myself even though it’s bugging me inside.
