Late Bloomer : Redlands’ Weldon Forde, a 210-Pound Defensive Lineman Headed for UCLA, Didn’t Play Football Until He Was 16

College football recruiters call Weldon Forde a late bloomer. The Redlands High senior did not touch a football until he was 16, coaches of opposing teams did not recognize his name until last season, and few recruiters even knew he existed before December.

Those who jumped on the bandwagon late worried that they might have overlooked one of the top outside linebacking prospects in the Southland.

Forde, who added 70 pounds to his 6-foot-2 frame in the last two years, had so many recruiters calling last month that he ran out of time to make the five visits he is allowed. He made an oral commitment to UCLA last week and will sign with the Bruins Wednesday, national signing day.

“I was looking forward to seeing a lot of different campuses,” said Forde, who also considered Oregon, Arizona and Cal. “There just weren’t enough free weekends to squeeze it all in. Since most of the schools didn’t show any interest until December, I was limited with time.”

The last few months have not been easy for Forde. Several of his teammates were recruited by UCLA in the fall and invited to attend games and meet Coach Terry Donahue. Forde was never extended such an offer, even though he dreamed of playing for the Bruins. In the end, however, Forde was the only Redlands player Donahue offered a scholarship.

UCLA coaches are calling Forde the best-kept secret of their recruiting class.

The 210-pound player was generally regarded as the best defensive lineman this season in the Citrus Belt League, which boasts such perennial Inland Empire powers as Rialto Eisenhower and Fontana. A two-year starter at defensive tackle, Forde will move to outside linebacker in college to better take advantage of his size and speed. He is the fastest hurdler on the Redlands track team.

The switch should not be too difficult, since he played the position in certain formations last season and was the second-leading tackler on the team with 59 solos.

Redlands, which struggled in recent seasons, improved to 8-4 last season, losing to Loyola in the Southern Section Division I quarterfinals. Forde, a team captain, made both all-league and all-section.

“The interesting thing about Weldon Forde is that he didn’t go out for football until just a year ago,” said Tom Hoak, Eisenhower’s coach. “He has all kinds of talent. He certainly was one of the top lineman in our area.”

Hoak’s compliment perfectly illustrates what Forde faced as a senior. Hardly anyone, including one of the most visible high school coaches in the area, knew who he was.

Forde, 18, played on Redlands’ sophomore team, and started on the varsity as a junior and senior. He said one reason people might have had trouble remembering him was that he wore a different jersey number each season.

“For one reason or another, I was never able to keep the same number two seasons in a row,” he said. “This season they gave me No. 9 because I started off practicing at fullback. When they moved me back to the defensive line, I refused to change my number again. The coaches at UCLA say I should be able to have No. 9 there.”

For the last three years, however, Forde worried less about jersey numbers than he did about learning to play football. He had limited exposure to sports at Loma Linda Academy, the small private school he attended from kindergarten through ninth grade. The school’s athletic program consisted of physical education classes and some intramurals.

That changed the summer before his sophomore year. Charlotte Ellison, Forde’s mother, sent her son to nearby Redlands High to see if he could adapt to public school life. She also hoped her son might give football a try.

“My oldest son (Wells) never had the chance to play football because he attended a private school that didn’t offer it,” Ellison said. “I felt maybe I was being too rigid of a mother, and I wanted Weldon to have the opportunity to pursue the sport if he wanted to.

“Since he hadn’t shown much interest in football, I expected him to attend Redlands for one year and then come running back to Loma Linda Academy. But that never happened, and I’m glad it didn’t.”

While attending summer school, Forde was talked into trying out for football by a friend. Although he had never touched a football and had seen very few games on television, he signed up.

Initially, the 6-2, 140-pound sophomore seemed like a tall, skinny kid out of place. Coaches recall that he would complain every time he got even a minor bump or bruise. Forde remembers putting on a helmet for the first time and thinking it must have weighed 100 pounds.

But when the tackling drills started, Forde’s interest increased.

“Once I started hitting people, I really liked it,” he said. “It was like a natural instinct.”

By the third game of his sophomore season, Forde earned a starting job. He has not been out of the lineup since.

He ate four or five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and several bags of chips every day for lunch to put on weight. He weighed 170 as a junior and 210 last season.

Dave Perkins, Redlands’ coach in 1990 and ‘91, said Forde’s rise from obscurity is unusual, noting that most college recruits have been around the game their whole lives. But when Perkins saw Forde, he knew he had something special.

“We played a game called ‘dog ball’ that is a lot like rugby,” said Perkins, now the coach at Upland. “You give one guy the football and see how long he can run away from a group of guys trying to tackle him. Weldon was always one of the best players at this game, which made me see how strong he was. He was tough to get down.”

Forde’s mother said her son’s late start in the game was planned. She wanted him to be academically mature before he start focusing much of his attention to outside interests.

“By the time Weldon started spending a lot of time with football, he was smart enough to realize that his studies had to come first,” Ellison said. “He wasn’t going to just maintain a 2.0 (grade-point average) for eligibility. He was going to keep the grades high and take part in other activities.”

Forde maintains a 3.6-grade point average and aspires to attend law school. He eventually would like to get into politics.

He is president of the Black Student Union, whose membership grew from six to 75 in the last year. About half of the black students at Redlands are in the union.

Forde is also vice president of the Lettermen’s Club and is on the speech team.

“I knew that I wanted to go into politics one day and I have never been one to speak up in a group,” he said. “So I joined the speech team to improve my speaking skills.”

His confidence in the classroom has carried over onto the playing field. Coaches say Forde never acted like a rookie, despite his inexperience.

“It was like Weldon knew he was going to be something special,” Perkins said. “But the thing is that he has the skills to back it up. He really is special.”

Where They Say They’re Headed

This is a partial list of top local football players who have given oral commitments. The start of national signings is Wednesday.

Player High School Pos, College Brian Barajas Mater Dei DB Villanova Pat Barnes Trabuco Hills QB California Eric Bennett Simi Valley QB Nevada Eric Benson Thousand Oaks OL Fresno St. Marshall Brown Rancho Alamitos QB-DB Fresno St. Chris Brymer Apple Valley OL USC Larry Bumpus Oxnard QB Oregon St. Fahali Campbell Camarillo RB Oregon St. Tim Carey Los Alamitos QB Stanford Antonio Carrion Dorsey WR San Diego St. Derrick Chandler Lynwood OL Kansas Andy Colbert Muir DB UCLA Al Corney Palmdale WR Colorado St. Sean Dumas Servite OL Navy Aaron Flowers Artesia QB Utah St. Jaiya Figueras Glendale LB-DB Oregon Weldon Forde Redlands DL UCLA A.J. Gass Servite DB Fresno St. Germaine Gray Eisenhower DL Florida St. Sean Gully Irvine OL UCLA Jerome Henry Loyola WR-DB Iowa St. Jonathan Himebauch Damien OL USC Z-U-koni Hodges Blair RB-DB San Diego St. Ryan Holmes El Modena LB Fresno St. Ray Jackson Mater Dei DB Washington St. Quincy Jacobs Thousand Oaks RB Stanford Matt Johner Estancia QB Kansas Dion Laffitte Manual Arts RB-LB Frenso St. Travis Kirschke Esperanza DL UCLA Sammy Knight Rubidoux DB USC Jeff Malone Servite OL Fresno St. Richie Martin San Gorgonio DB UCLA Jason McCorvey Long Beach Poly WR Fresno St. Saladin McCullough Muir RB USC Andy Meyers Fontana OL UCLA Kyle Murphy Edison DT Arizona St. Anthony Murray Sylmar LB Oregon St. Charles Myles Muir RB Arizona Jeff Nadeau Monroe WR Arizona Derek Norman Muir LB San Diego St. Sean O’Brien Santa Margarita QB Arizona Taso Papadakis Peninsula LB USC Lawrence Phillips Baldwin Park RB Nebraska Tyrone Pierce Sylmar LB UCLA Phalen Pounds Pasadena DL USC Beau Ralphs Newport Harbor DL Villanova George Roberts Edison DT California Eric Scott Crenshaw WR Northwestern Tarik Smith Oak Park RB California Mostapha Sobhi Hawthorne OL Washington Blake Spence Capistrano Valley TE Oregon Bach Stabile Crespi P-K Hawaii Shawn Stuart Saugus OL UCLA Nicky Sualua Mater Dei RB Ohio St. Derek Swafford Ventura RB Northwestern Eliel Swinton Montclair Prep RB Stanford Kelron Sykes Lynwood LB Oregon St. Nate Thompson Hart OL Nevada Treyvone Towns Pasadena LB USC Leon Vickers Rancho Alamitos LB Stanford Ty Wade Canyon Springs LB Arizona St. Bryan Werner Esperanza DL Stanford Robert Whitman Valley View TE San Diego St. Brian Willmer Sunny Hills LB UCLA Sam Young La Sierra LB Arizona St. Terrence Zenno Palmdale QB Colorado St.