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Kobe Buffalomeat walked out of a Lawrence High School classroom Wednesday, and some friends asked, "Do you know you"re famous?"
Twitter erupted Wednesday morning after Illinois State announced the signing of the 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive tackle.
"BREAKING: Illinois State signs the best recruit name in college football history," ESPN"s Darren Rovell tweeted to his 1.68 million followers.
Buffalomeat prepared for a media blitz and a possible appearance on ABC"s "Jimmy Kimmel Live" when he joined three football teammates Wednesday in the Lawrence High cafeteria for a national signing day event.
"Here I am," he said at the end of his two-minute speech. "Go Redbirds."
Lawrence coach Dirk Wedd called it a "fairy tale" not the celebrity part, but the fact Buffalomeat had earned a scholarship to a school such as Illinois State.
"He couldn"t walk and chew bubble gum last summer," Wedd said. "Then he figured it out. By the end of the season, he was first-team all-conference."
Wedd surrendered his phone Wednesday morning for jury duty. By the time he got out, he had 125 text messages.
Buffalomeat spent part of Wednesday tweeting with Jordan Peele of the comedy duo Key & Peele.
"Love their show," he said. "Watch all the time. And I just got done with a producer from the Jimmy Kimmel show talking about a Skype call.
"It"s fun. I"ve enjoyed the day. It"s a lot, but I"m happy this is happening. Have to enjoy it while you can. It"s not going to last forever."
Buffalomeat"s friends and family say he can handle the attention.
Ray Buffalomeat said his son, named after Kobe Bryant, is roughly one-quarter Cheyenne/Arapaho, one-quarter Cherokee, one-quarter Choctaw and one-quarter white.
"Having the name Buffalomeat probably hasn"t always been easy," said his aunt, Penny Postoak Ferguson. "But it makes me proud for our heritage. I saw a lot of positive comments on ESPNU."
As for Kobe"s personality?
"He"s very laid-back and fun-loving," she said. "Very respectful."
Classmate Sydona Kegin has been friends with him since the third grade.
"I know it seems overwhelming," she said, "but I think he"s enjoying every second."
Illinois State, meanwhile, is happy to have him.
"We didn"t do this as a publicity stunt," coach Brock Spack said by telephone. "We did it because of his character. He"s a good student. He"s long and a very good athlete. He has big upside."
And a name football fans and perhaps Hollywood won"t soon forget.
"People say I have a good football name," Spack said. "So he and I have something in common."
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-kobe-buffalomeat-illinois-state-20170201-story.html
