UNT Safety Racking Up Tackles

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Football: UNT safety racking up on tackles

08:16 AM CDT on Monday, October 3, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Aaron Weathers’ performance has been a classic case of good news, bad news for North Texas this season.

The sophomore has led the Mean Green in tackles in every game and been one of the team’s most consistent players. That’s the good news.

Unfortunately for the Mean Green, Weathers is also a safety and often the last line of defense. Seeing the former Coffey-ville (Kan.) Community College standout make play after play has been bad news for UNT, because he often makes them down the field.

The Mean Green (1-2, 1-0) hope to see Weathers continue to thrive while asking him to make fewer plays on Tuesday when they host Troy (1-3, 0-0) in their second Sun Belt Confer-ence game of the year.

“Aaron has been a pleasant surprise for us,” UNT coach Darrell Dickey said. “It’s good that our safety is a good tackler, but it would be a lot better if the ball was not getting back there to him as high a percentage of the time as it is.”

Weathers has already made 31 tackles. He leads the Sun Belt Conference and is tied for 27th nationally with an average of 10.3 tackles a game.

Weathers, who has also intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, in the only player in the Sun Belt averaging more than 9.3 tackles a game.

Weathers attributes his quick start to arriving at UNT over the summer to get a head start on preparing for the season and the reception he received when he got to Denton.

“The players and coaches have welcomed me in and helped me adapt,” Weathers said. “They have encouraged me to work hard and play hard, even though I came from the outside as a junior college player.”

Weathers’ arrival in Denton could be attributed at least in part to the close connections UNT has with Coffeyville. UNT has signed a host of players from the school, including defensive backs T.J. Covington and cornerback Gary Oubre, not to mention defensive end Willie Ransom, over the last few years.

Weathers spent two years at Coffeyville, but redshirted during his first season due to an injury. By the end of his sophomore year, he completed the academic requirements necessary to transfer to a Division I school.

UNT’s coaches found out Weathers had the qualifications to transfer after playing just one season and quickly offered him a scholarship.

“When I came to North Texas, it felt like a good place to go,” Weathers said. “The coaches were real cool and wanted me to improve in the classroom and on the field. Education is really important to me. I love Coffeyville, but it was better for me to get out because I was already eligible to transfer.”

So far, Weathers has thrived at UNT while helping fill the Mean Green’s void at safety. UNT lost starters Jonas Buckles and Markeith Knowlton after last season.

“We felt after losing Jonas and Markeith that we needed some safety help,” Dickey said. “He is doing exactly what we want done, but he still has to get a better feel for what his jobs are.”

This week those jobs will include helping the Mean Green bounced back from a pair of blowout losses in a critical Sun Belt Conference game.

UNT slipped past Middle Tennessee 14-7 in its season and Sun Belt opener before losing to Tulsa and Kansas State by a combined score of 108-9.

Dickey attributes UNT’s struggles to a host of mistakes the Mean Green are making both offensively and defensively. UNT gave up six plays of more than 40 yards last week against KSU.

Weathers will play a key role in UNT’s efforts to cut down on that number against Troy. The Trojans are traditionally a running team, but are led by quarterback Carl Meadows this season. The junior ranks fifth in the Sun Belt with an average of 168.8 passing yards a game.

That average appears troublesome for a UNT defense that ranks seventh out of the eight teams in the Sun Belt against the pass with an average of 247 yards allowed a game.

While UNT has not performed well defensively since its season-opening opening win over MTSU, Weathers believes the Mean Green will be ready for Troy, a team that will challenge UNT’s secondary early and often.

“Every game we are doing better with our assignments,” Weathers said. “We are concentrating on the small things that can make us better as a group.”

Briefly …

Former UNT defensive back Ilias Simpson spoke to the team after practice on Saturday about overcoming adversity. Simpson spent the last few weeks working in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina tore through the city. Simpson served in the Air Force National Guard while lettering for the Mean Green in 2003 and 2004. He is still with the guard, but expects to be commissioned as an officer in the Air Force in the next few months.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.