TAMPA — Alfonso Diaz had a big decision to make.
His mother was gone, thousands of miles away. A U.S. Army Reserve sergeant, she had been unexpectedly deployed to the Middle East for a tour of duty in January.
She left her Town ‘N Country home behind, entrusting then-18-year-old Diaz to look after his two younger sisters. She’s now in Iraq.
But Diaz, about to graduate from Alonso High School, had received several recruiting offers from college football teams across the country.
Could he leave, too? And if he did, what would happen to his sisters, 14-year-old Rose Webb and 8-year-old Xena Valentin?