Tough luck did not stop this commit
Rather than sulk, Casey Walker used an injury to get stronger
Tough luck did not stop this commit
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By Blake Jackson
Published: January 25, 2008
GARLAND, Texas — Casey Walker was a fourth-grader the first time his uncle showed him the inscription inside his 1988 Rose Bowl Championship ring.
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Hard luck, harder work
Walker gets even more excited about his future when he recalls his sophomore year at Garland High. Before the football season began, it was over — Walker suffered a tear in his meniscus cartilage in his knee.
Any knee injury is serious for a lineman, and Walker's case was no different. It prevented him from working out his lower body and threatened his place on the depth chart at a Class 5A school with almost 2,500 students.
"To my knowledge, I was going to be on varsity my sophomore year,” Walker said. "When I didn't get to play, I was thinking, ‘Man, what's going to happen now?' I was just sitting watching everybody else playing.”
Uncle Derrick's advice bubbled to the forefront of Walker's mind — work hard. If he couldn't work out his lower body, then he'd concentrate on upper body strength.
He attended rehab sessions without fail. And when he wasn't in physical therapy, Walker was in the weight room.
"That injury affected Casey, but it didn't hurt him,” said Garland High coach Jeff Jordan.
"He's a model for hard work and he worked very diligently to return.”
Walker's return to the football field came at Bob Stoops' football camp the following summer.
Shut up and play
As a junior, Walker broke almost every weight lifting record at Garland. He topped out at 600 pounds in the squat and benched upwards of 400.
"I don't know how, but my injury made me stronger,” he said.
On the football field, Walker saw his playing time increase throughout the season as the Owls finished as Texas state semifinalists. That spring, he received scholarship offers from the likes of Colorado, Wisconsin and Arizona.
But none from Oklahoma. Instead, he received two visitors.
"Stoops and (Brent) Venables came down to see me,” Walker said. "They wanted to offer me but the only thing that was holding them back was coach (Jackie) Shipp.”
Shipp had seen Walker at camp the previous year. He'd seen Walker's highlight reel from his breakout junior season. But the Sooners' defensive line coach still wasn't convinced.
"He was skeptical. He wanted to see if I got better from camp,” Walker said. "He said, ‘Just give me one day up there.'”
The second part of Uncle Derrick's advice surfaced — keep your mouth shut — and instead of taking offense, Walker took another trip to Norman for summer football camp.
"I went back just for one day,” he said. "They offered me on the spot.”
Two weeks later, Walker committed.
He'd worked hard and he'd kept his mouth shut. Now, good things were happening to him.
Walker rose to the No. 56 defensive tackle in America and broke into the Texas Top 100, according to Rivals.com. While his team managed just a 3-7 record, Walker recorded 35 tackles and three sacks as a senior.
"He was a disruptive force on the line,” Jordan said. "His numbers were lower than you'd expect but that was only because he was double-teamed all year.”
‘A diamond in the rough'
Uncle Derrick Reed has shown Walker that Rose Bowl ring many, many times since fourth grade.
Even as his nephew enters Oklahoma under the banner of All-Americans R.J. Washington, Jermie Calhoun and Stephen Good, Reed reminds Walker of where he's been, what it took to get where he is and where to go from here.
Work hard, keep your mouth shut and good things will happen.
A 20-year-old inscription has become the mantra for an 18-year-old with everything ahead of him.
"Over the years I've seen a lot of guys with a lot of talent struggle, and guys who weren't as talented as them find more success because of hard work,” Reed said. "You can't have the attitude of ‘I've arrived.' The individuals who have the attitude that they've arrived are the individuals who get left.
"Casey is a diamond in the rough. You're going to see that over the next four or five years.”
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