COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Sean Weatherspoon flipped on the Missouri game Saturday, he couldn’t keep his eyes off No. 32. Weatherspoon, a three-time first-team all-conference linebacker for the Tigers from 2007-09, ended his college career on the short list of greatest defensive players to wear the black and gold. When he watched Mizzou’s Nick Bolton — the latest weakside linebacker to play the spot where Weatherspoon starred — memories came flashing back.
“It was almost like déjà vu,” Weatherspoon, 31, said in phone interview Tuesday from his home just outside of Atlanta. “When I was watching him it wasn’t like seeing yourself, but he played like someone who loves to play football and someone who’s contagious out there.