Work hard, keep your mouth shut and good things will happen.Derrick Reed played cornerback in Michigan State's 20-17 victory over vaunted Southern Cal. Then, he passed down the lessons learned to his nephew Casey — Oklahoma's lone true defensive tackle commit of the 2008 recruiting class.
"That's the attitude we had and good things always happened to us,” Reed said of the '87 Spartans. "And that's the one aspect I've really encouraged Casey in.”
Walker listened well.
Hardly a blip on anyone's recruiting radar two years ago, the 6-foot-2 305-pounder raised his visibility considerably by overcoming serious knee injury, impressing Oklahoma coaches during summer camp and nailing down an early commitment to the Sooners — which Walker will finalize with his signed letter of intent on Feb. 6.
"My mom ain't never missed a game,” Walker said. "A lot of folks in my family are Texas fans. OU-Texas weekend is the biggest weekend ever down here. There were a lot of pros versus cons that Oklahoma was a good