Fort Myers offensive lineman shares meteorology dreams

It’s hard to miss Fort Myers High School offensive lineman Joel Ervin. The junior, who’s 6’6″, towers over his teammates

“My growth spurt came in like at 12 or 13,” Ervin said. “12 or 13 I was already over six foot.”

At age 14, Joel started playing football. Now, you’ll see him line up at left tackle for the Green Wave every Friday night.

When asked what his favorite part of playing high school football was, Ervin replied, “just putting people on their back. Just getting coached by the best coach in Sam Sirianni (Jr.). It’s just been a great experience.”

Football is a new found passion for Ervin, but it isn’t his only passion. Ervin is fascinated by the weather and wants to be a meteorologist.

“The first ever storm that had me really interested was Hurricane Katrina and how it destroyed New Orleans,” Ervin said. “So that’s when I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist and stuff like that. Cause I wanted to help people out like tell them where storms are coming.”

Ervin is already doing that for the football team.

“Coach Sammy actually asked me if it’s going to rain and stuff like that,” Ervin said. “Actually I called the last practice. I was like it’s probably going to lightning and stuff like that. We’re probably not going to be able to practice.”

Ervin is always tracking the weather. So we thought we’d show him how it all comes together. We brought Ervin and his family to WINK News to see what it’s like at The Weather Authority. Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt brought Ervin into the weather center to show him all that goes into putting together a forecast.

Then, Devitt brought Ervin to the green screen to coach him how to deliver the weather. We even got a preview of what at Joel Ervin forecast looks like. After this experience, Ervin said, “I definitely want to pursue it even more.”