Will Yeatman is sort of an athletic anomaly. Sure, he’s a
solid tight end garnering three stars in Scout’s ranking system thus far, but
the 6’ 6” 255 pound athlete has another sport calling him and it’s not
basketball. Yeatman fancies himself quite the lacrosse player and apparently,
other schools do, too. With offers from schools such as North Carolina, Duke
and even Notre Dame for full rides in lacrosse, a second passion of Yeatman’s,
the decision of which sport he’d get to play becomes difficult.
On the one hand, he could attend a school where he could
play both and admittedly, that would be the ideal situation, but he admits that
when a school with the tradition and weight of Nebraska comes calling,
sometimes, you make a sacrifice or two. “Not having lacrosse could hinder a
school but the big ones like Nebraska, (their offer) is tough to turn down,” he
said.
Yeatman currently reports a 4.84 40 yard dash in addition
to a 285 pound bench press, a 385 pound squat and a 250 pound power clean. He
holds a 3.4 GPA and scored a 1500 on the new SAT. During his junior campaign,
he totaled 26 catches for 340 yards and 4 touchdowns while tallying 15 tackles
and 2 sacks from the defensive side of the ball.
Amongst his lacrosse scholarships, he has football
scholarship offers from Arizona, ASU, Oregon State, Nevada, Nebraska, San Diego State, Utah, Colorado State, Michigan, North Carolina, Duke, Maryland and Boston College. He is also receiving heavy interest from USC, UCLA, Ohio State, Cal,
Oregon and Washington. His current favorites are North Carolina, Maryland,
Notre Dame, Duke, Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska and Arizona State.
He spent some time at the USC camp and the Trojans are
actually eyeballing Mr. Yeatman as a possible offensive tackle. He cites his
strong points as a tight end as being an all-rounder at the position being able
to block effectively as well as run the deep routes.
Once offered by the Cornhuskers, Yeatman had felt that his
status in the recruiting circles had been cemented. “When they offered me, it
was really my first big time school. Well, I had other big time schools but
this was the one that had the tradition. When they offered me I was blown
away. My grandma actually grew up in Omaha. The last time I talked to the
coaches was in May when they could call me. I spoke with Coach Busch and we had
a good long talk,” he said. Nebraska is a school that Yeatman is entertaining
quite seriously.
He recently took unofficial trips to Notre Dame, Duke and
North Carolina and plans to return to visit the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish
officially. The other three official visit spots are currently up in the air.
With reference to his commitment to a particular program, Will is just ready to
go with the flow. “I’m thinking, if it’s the right fit and it feels good then
I’ll commit,” he said.
Besides having lacrosse, we spoke to Will about some of the
major factors that will play a vital role in his recruitment. “Good academics,
a great academic reputation really. It has to be in a good location like a
college town setting with great athletics. Overall the program has to be
solid. They need to have a well known reputation around the country,” he said.