Sean Weatherspoon take lessons from Hurricane Rita

The Weatherspoons were away from their property for a little over four weeks. Their home was not destroyed, but suffered major damage.

"We didn't really have to rebuild," she said. "We had to do renovations. It was tough to leave your home and then to go back and see all of the damage. It was very emotional."

The community rallied together. And for the Weatherspoons, that meant returning to their church on Sunday. They all had to rally to help restore the town.

"The community, the schools, the area ministers, the neighbors, and the people in the neighboring communities all pitched in," she said.

She was adamant about raising her family in the church. Sean was required to attend Sunday school and grew up singing in the church choir.

"God is everything," she said.

While Sean was a good kid and she's proud of the fact that he stayed at Missouri to earn his degree, she and her husband, Develous, had to take away some of Sean's privileges after an incident in which he went joy riding with his older brother.

"His brother had a set of keys made to his sister's car," she said. "That was the biggest trouble that he ever got in. His brother is five years older. At that point, he was leading Sean."

But while the family was on the move from Hurricane Rita, Weatherspoon was supposed to be playing football during that time. Normally, he would have been making recruiting visits, taking calls from recruiters and sending out video of his games to colleges.

He had been to LSU's football camp and hoped that the Tigers would make an offer. They lost track of him and the Weatherspoon family as they moved around Texas, waiting for the clearance to return to Jasper.

Matt Eberflus, who was recruiting Weatherspoon for Missouri, somehow managed to keep track of the family and made an impression. Eberflus currently is the linebackers coach for the Cleveland Browns.

Before the hurricane, Weatherspoon was being recruited by LSU, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas A&M.

Once the family returned to Jasper, they started to put the house and their lives back together.

In football-crazed Texas, getting the high school season back on track was a sign of a return to normalcy. So Jasper High and surrounding schools would play two games a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

After the season, Weatherspoon took a visit to Missouri. Later, as he strolled through the local mall around Christmas time, Weatherspoon went to a sportswear store and saw a rack full of Missouri gear. He thought that it was rather strange to see Missouri jerseys deep in the heart of southeast Texas. He took that as a sign that he was supposed to be at Missouri.

"It seemed like Missouri always just found me," Weatherspoon said. "I was moving all over the place. Matt Eberflus just stuck with me."

As a freshman, he played on special teams for the Tigers. After starting as a sophomore, he was entrenched in the lineup. He would lead the team in tackles each season and posted 32.5 tackles for losses.

Weatherspoon's cousin Teresa Weatherspoon played in the WNBA. For the record, Sean said he is still the best basketball player in the family.

"I was all-district in high school," Weatherspoon said. "I played [small forward]."

Weatherspoon is not predicting how soon he plans to be on the field with the Falcons. He clearly doesn't want to tick off some of the veterans on defense.

"I feel like I can come in and work hard," Weatherspoon said. "I can come in each and every day with a good attitude and be ready to learn."

But Weatherspoon has taken one lesson from the hurricane that should help him with the Falcons.

"Tough times don't last, tough people do," Weatherspoon said. "That just made me a stronger person."