socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Looks Like Omar Weaver
Is Missing...Again....--(Jan. 24, 2002)

We received an e-mail from a friend alerting us to an article in today's Fresno Bee about the trials, tribulations, travails and travels of Omar Weaver, the talented 6'-7" shooting guard who attended Compton Centennial two seasons ago, and who signed a National Letter of Intent with Fresno State this immediate past November. According to a story written by Eric Prisbell who covers the Bulldogs for the Bee, it's looking more and more doubtful that Weaver will be playing at Fresno State, or anywhere else for that matter, next season.

Weaver had been playing this season at Riverside City College, but quit the team in December, and basically no one, including Fresno State coaches, have heard from him in more than a month.  He must complete his AA degree before being admitted to Fresno State.  His fall grades are incomplete, and his former coach speculates that he just might not be able to get it done academically in time to qualify.  Weaver is currently believed to be back in the Washington area, living with his grandmother, but no one has heard from him and calls to her have gone   unanswered. 

In short, it's looking like Weaver will be a no-show.  Fresno State still has Armando Surratt from Oakland Tech signed, and they are hoping against hope that DeAngelo Collins will decide to skip the NBA draft and come to Fresno, but the jury is still out on that.  DeAngelo told Clark Francis at the Dream Classic that he's thinking about college, and while he mentioned Fresno State, he also mentioned USC and Missouri.

Here's Eric's story, which can also be found at the link below (click the headline for the original story):

Recruit probably won't join 'Dogs

By Eric Prisbell
The Fresno Bee

Hopes of Fresno State's most prized recruit playing for the Bulldogs next season significantly diminished Wednesday, after The Bee learned none of the Bulldogs coaches knows his whereabouts.

Omar Weaver, the talented shooting guard who began the season at Riverside City College, quit the team in December and left school after the fall semester.

Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian and Riverside City coach Bob Russo said Weaver is somewhere in Washington, where he grew up.

Calls to Weaver's grandmother, Hermaine Cover, in Washington, went unanswered.

"He probably won't come [here]," Tarkanian conceded.

Weaver must enroll at a junior college for the spring semester and earn his Associate of Arts degree to become eligible to play for Fresno State next season. The last time any Fresno State coach spoke with Weaver was close to a month ago; none knew if he had enrolled in any junior college.

"I still think he probably wants to go to Fresno State," Russo said of his former player who signed during the fall signing period. "But I don't know if academically he can get it done."

Weaver's eligibility also is contingent upon passing his fall semester courses. Russo said Weaver's fall semester grades weren't completed yet.

Even if Weaver earns his AA, at least one Fresno State coach privately questioned whether Weaver is the player the program had hoped. After all, the 6-foot-7 shooting guard who patterns his game after Missouri's Kareem Rush hasn't played a full season of organized basketball since the 1998-99 season.

Losing Weaver would be the first cracks in what was expected to be a golden recruiting class. Oakland Tech's Armando Surratt is signed and the Bulldogs cling to hopes of landing touted Inglewood High center DeAngelo Collins.

Billed as a top 20 player in high school, Weaver failed to play a full season of basketball at four schools in the past three years -- Compton's Centennial High, Hutchinson (Kan.) Junior College, College of the Sequoias (redshirt) and Riverside City.

Weaver, a close friend of former Bulldog Tito Maddox, has traveled a difficult road toward Division 1 basketball. He averaged 27 points at Washington's Coolidge High his junior year, before transferring to Centennial.

At Centennial, he was ruled ineligible after a team-involved altercation against Dominguez High. After not registering a qualifying SAT score, Weaver chose the junior college route, but became disenchanted at Hutchinson after a month-long stay.

He transferred to Sequoias and redshirted last season, all the while vowing to "show the real Omar Weaver this season."

But he lost this season after an early December postgame verbal locker room joust with Russo.

"Basically, it was a mutual decision between both of us," Russo said of the decision for Weaver to leave the team. "He had a chance to stay in school. ... At that point [of the incident], I don't know if I was willing to take him back on the team or not ... I'm disappointed this has happened to Omar, not just for him as a player but also as a person."


 socalogomini1.gif (1928 bytes)
©Copyright SoCalHoops 1997-2002
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com