Clarksville, TN– You wouldn’t blame Rossview High School”s Kyle Weldon if he felt overshadowed by Northeast High School”s Alex Poythress, but he doesn’t.
Weldon, who will play for the Military Academy at West Point next year, understands why Poythress, a Kentucky signee, is getting the recognition he’s getting.
“It’s not really surprising, because he’s going to Kentucky and I’m going to Army,” Weldon said. “But I really don’t feel like I’m being overshadowed. It’s not too big of deal if my name gets out there. It may not be as much as his, but I don’t feel I’m overshadowed.”
“I feel like this district has always been talented. There’s always been great players in our district,” Weldon said. “So it’s not too surprising to me. I’ve known both of them since we were in 8th grade and I kind of expected all this.”
Weldon, who chose Army over a slew of schools, including Furman, Western Carolina, East Carolina and Lafayette, is something of a first for Rossview High School, in becoming the first boys basketball player to sign to play for a Division I program. The Hawks have had that happen in girls golf, track and field, baseball football and softball, but not in boys basketball.
“I’m the first D-I commit for boys basketball,” he said. “We had a lot of guys go JuCo or to Division II. But as far as for D-I, I’m the first to do it. I think it will help the program and hopefully will help the younger guys see you can go pretty far if you keep working at it. Before this summer, I really didn’t apply myself as much as I should have. So this summer I finally started working and it showed that it helped because I got all these D-I offers. I’m trying to relay to the younger guys that their hard work will pay off.”
Weldon played for the Tennessee Tigers in AAU Basketball this summer and after his team played in the national tournament in Orlando the phone started ringing off the hook.
“They day I got back, I had eight or nine phone calls from D-I schools with them wondering if I wanted to go there. Some even offered me the first day so that was very exciting,” Weldon said. “Then it started bugging me a little, because of all the calls I was getting. Some schools were calling me twice a week. It was definitely a different experience, but it was all exciting.”
And the Military Academy probably jumped to the top of the list, because Weldon’s father, also graduated from West Point.
“It’s not too foreign to me like it would be to a lot of people,” Weldon said. “I kind of understand what to expect there. Plus, it’s the number-one ranked Liberal Arts school in the nation. So as far as the education goes, it’s exactly what I want. I wanted to be challenged academic-wise. I also feel that everyone maybe needs to do a little time in the military and this is the best of both worlds. I’ll get a really good education and then do five years in the Military so I’m pretty happy with my decision.”
It’s not lost on Weldon that he’s just a few weeks away from the end of his high school basketball career and that his new life is right around the corner.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity ahead of me,” he said. “Most people play high school basketball and their senior year is it. I’m lucky enough that I’m going to get the chance to play four more years. I’m very excited about that.”
Three Things People Don’t Know about Kyle Weldon
- He likes golf
- He’s a good driver
- He has a 3.6 GPA
Three Things Kyle Weldon likes
- Taco Bell
- Rossview boys basketball coach Johnny Jackson
- Basketball
Three Things Kyle Weldon doesn’t like
- Heights
- People who talk crap
- Tomatoes
