On August 19, Ohio announced the captains for the 2025 season. This year there are just four captains compared to last year’s six, with two of them being returning captains quarterback Parker Navarro and safety Adonis Williams Jr.
Redshirt sophomore safety DJ Walker was the other defensive captain while fifth year senior and career Bobcat Davion Weatherspoon was named the fourth captain for Ohio.
In an era of college sports where it is increasingly harder to find players that stick with the same program, especially at a group of five school, Weatherspoon is an outlier, both in his loyalty and play on the field.
It did take a while for the undersized lineman to grow into his own in Athens, a place that he chose to call home due to the culture and feeling of the coaching staff when he was coming out of Harper Woods Highschool in Detroit, Michigan.
“It was during COVID-19, so a big thing that (was important to) me was that I felt like I was a part of a family,” Weatherspoon said. “My class couldn't come down here and take a visit, so I took the coach's word for it, and I trusted what they were telling me, and they asked me more about family than football.”
Weatherspoon arrived in 2021, the first year of the Tim Albin era, but it took some time for him to earn his spot among the rotation of trusted linemen, sitting behind men like Parker Titsworth and Kurt Danneker.
“I played behind a lot of guys, Hagen Meservy, Parker Titsworth, being able to sit back and just watch those guys, just being able to see the way that they took care of their bodies, the way that they did mental prep (was key),” Weatherspoon said. “I just took notes of everything that they were being able to do before me, and when it was my turn to step up, I just kind of already knew what to do.”
Weatherspoon’s time to step up was last year, a year where he was a crucial player to one of the most successful seasons in the history of Ohio football.
The Bobcats won 11 games last year, including a 38-3 trouncing of rival Miami in the Mid-American Conference title game, and a 30-27 victory over a very good Jacksonville State team in the Cure Bowl.
The offensive line was rock solid, paving the way for what was a deadly Ohio running game. The Bobcats led the MAC in rushing yards per game with 213.7 and a whopping 35 rushing touchdowns behind the combination of the experienced offensive line and the duo of Navarro and running back Anthony Tyus.
“It felt great to be a part of that team,” Weatherspoon said. “First four games, I was at guard getting it in, and then I had to bump out there to tackle. I just felt like whatever was needed to help the team, I was more than (happy) to do that.”
The offensive line was very consistent with a starting five of Weatherspoon, Carson Heidecker, Titsworth, Christophe Atkinson and Jacob Dennison starting every game, but Weatherspoon was moved between guard and tackle for most of the year, swapping with Heidecker.
“Coach (Allen) Rudolph did a good job in putting the best five out there, even if we were out or missed a position,” Weatherspoon said. “That was a good thing about it… we found a way to do it and to get that MAC Championship.”
Weatherspoon is listed at six feet tall on the Ohio website, leaving him to be fairly undersized for a Division I offensive lineman, but with that he is able to use his height to an advantage, keeping himself low and able to leverage on opposing defensive linemen.
“My pad level being always able to stay low under people’s chins,” Weatherspoon said on what makes so versatile at his size. “Most of the time, I'm always going to get guys that's taller than me, so my low pad level (helps).”
Entering this offseason, Weatherspoon was the only returning player from that stout offensive line, changing his role within the unit and the team as a whole.
“I just had to step up more and be a leader with a lot of new faces,” Weatherspoon said. “With me being a program guy, playing with a lot of good guys in the program, that helps me a lot as well, just knowing how to lead.”
His leadership and experience within the program led the way for his selection as captain, an honor and a role that his teammates voted for him to fill.
“I've been here for five years, I feel like that's very rare nowadays in college, with one player staying at one school for a whole five years,” Weatherspoon said. “For me to just be able to stick through my ups and downs… that's what made me the guy I am today. That's one reason why I'm captain, because I’ve been through so much, and I've overcame so much. I know what it takes to overcome and stop the type of stuff that the team might need and face in upcoming weeks.”
With his younger brother, Bryant Weatherspoon Jr, now a freshman playing for Toledo, he and his family have one simple goal for this season.
“That's going to be a goal for the family,” Weatherspoon said. “That's all back in our hometown against little bro (in the MAC title game).”
