As a highly recruited high school senior finishing his prep football career in the nation’s capital, John Walker never imagined he would decide between moving to Montana and North Dakota to finish his college football career.
Five years later, it is the exact decision the former Colorado Buffalo had to make. Walker, a part-time starter at CU the last two seasons, had a direct connection to Montana State but still almost ended up in Grand Forks at UND.
MSU recruiting coordinator Michael Pitre was a graduate assistant in Boulder during Walker’s first two years living in the Rocky Mountains. Walker visited Montana State in May and loved the fit he found with the Bobcats, from secondary coach Gerald Alexander’s NFL background to his relationship with Pitre to Jeff Choate’s no-nonsense approach as he tries to revamp Montana State’s much-maligned defense. MSU needed a cornerback and Walker felt like he could help the Bobcats right away.
The first weekend of May, Walker earned his degree in sociology from CU. He applied to Montana State’s graduate program for history. Weeks passed. He did not hear back from anyone at Montana State. MSU director of graduate studies for the history department Timothy LeCain was out of the country and difficult to communicate with, Walker said. Walker assumed he had not been accepted to Montana State so he opened his recruitment back up.
“It was frustrating because I was banking on coming to MSU,” Walker said in an interview in late July. “I had to wait. I was more anxious than anything. All my friends, they back in school and at their schools working out. I was just at home in D.C. waiting around, ready to get back to the grind.”
The first week of June, Walker visited the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. He was pleasantly surprised by UND’s facilities and the philosophies of head coach Bubba Schweigert and defensive coordinator Eric Schmidt. He also liked UND’s dire need for a cornerback to play opposite Deion Harris. On June 4, Walker verbally committed to North Dakota.
Walker submitted his graduate school application to UND and began the waiting process all over again. After two weeks, he had not received acceptance to UND either. Then Choate called Walker with the news he had been waiting for.
“After I came for my visit to Bozeman, I was waiting on the director of the graduate program but he was out of the country so it was hard to get in touch with him,” Walker said in an interview on the first day of July. “That’s why I opened my recruitment back up and took my visit to North Dakota.
“After I came from North Dakota, Coach Choate called me and told me he talked to some people over there and they got in touch with the dude in charge and he was still working on getting me in. He felt good about it. That’s when I reconsidered because Montana State is where I really wanted to go. A week later, they called and said I had been accepted and I decided that’s where I wanted to go.
“I didn’t get my official letter from North Dakota either. I just got accepted into North Dakota recently after I got accepted to Montana State. I wasn’t accepted on my visit. Two or three weeks after that, I got in. If I would’ve gotten my official letter from there, I probably would’ve actually been going there. But I’m so happy it worked out and I get to go to Montana State.”
As a senior at H.D. Woodson High School in Washington D.C., Walker was the No. 51 ranked cornerback in the country by ESPN.com. He was among the top 10 recruits in the D.C. region and was an All-Metro and Mid-Atlantic Region selection. His senior prep season, he racked up 84 tackles, 57 solo tackles, four sacks, forced three fumbles, snared two interceptions and averaged three pass breakups per game, earning himself a Pac 12 scholarship in the process.
At Colorado, he started nine games over three seasons, including seven at nickel back as a sophomore in 2014. At the end of spring practice in 2015, Walker was listed second at cornerback and nickel back on the depth chart after earning the Hale Irwin Ward presented to the most improved defensive player. But last fall, Walker only played five games, notching just five tackles. The stellar student — Walker was Woodson High’s salutatorian in high school — knew he was closing in on his degree, something that would open up options for his final season of football eligibility. He felt he wouldn’t get the chance to thrive or pursue his NFL dreams if he stayed in Boulder.
“Coach GA (Gerald Alexander) and Coach Choate, that’s who I really want to play for,” Walker said. “I have a good relationship with those coaches and I feel like Coach GA is probably the best coach I can play for right now with my situation and me trying to go to the league next year. He’s been through that process. He’s done it. No one else can show me better than he can since he’s been through it.”
Walker praised the UND program, from their facilities to their coaching staff to the vision they sold him to the success he feels the Fighting Hawks will have this season. Now he’s a Bobcat and will play his first Big Sky Conference game against UND in MSU’s BSC opener in Bozeman on September 24.
“Never, never, never would I have thought this was what I would be doing, choosing between moving to Montana and North Dakota,” Walker said. “But these are great programs, both of them. Everything happens for a reason.”
“It definitely feels so good to not have to worry about the recruiting process any more. Now I just have to worry about working out, getting stronger, faster, learning the playbook and getting ready to play. That’s all I’m focused on right now. I’m not worrying about any of the other distractions. I’m just ready to come back to Bozeman and grind.”
