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Battle of Troy Undersized Walters poses large threat for Cardinal
Posted: Monday December 27, 1999 03:13 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Troy Walters seemed to magically materialize a couple of steps behind the defense. The ball was underthrown, so he slowed, then leaped as two considerably taller defenders also went up for the ball. Walters came down with it, and, had it been a game rather than just a Stanford practice session, he would have been on his way to the end zone. "Troy Walters, if he's not the best, is one of the best in the country," Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez says. "He's a home-run threat at all times. You know he has the potential to hit home runs, and he still is able to do it." Listed at 5-foot-8 but at least an inch shorter, Walters is a wizard on pass routes, able to find open spaces in defenses when there don't appear to be any, and able to somehow grab the ball with defensive backs towering over him. Walters, who won the Fred Biletnikoff Award this season as the nation's top college receiver, will provide No. 22 Stanford's counterpoint to fourth-ranked Wisconsin's Heisman Trophy-winning runner, the massive Ron Dayne, in the Rose Bowl on Saturday. Walters, who caught more passes for more yards than any other receiver ever in the pass-happy Pac-10, had 1,456 receiving yards this season. Over his career, he had 245 receptions for 3,995 yards, both records, plus he had a catch for a 98-yard touchdown, still another Pac-10 mark. Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham's brief description of Walters is, "Troy: excellence personified." "He's the whole package," Willingham said. "He combines tremendous work ethic with great personal character, and he has the physical skills that allow him to play much larger than his size indicates. "When you have those with a very bright and intelligent young man, I think then you have a great package." Walters' "package" includes academic excellence. He finished his undergraduate degree in communications and already is working on his masters degree in organizational studies. "He's been All-Pac-10 academic, and I think his crowning moment is his academic All-American first team," Willingham said. "It's a tremendous honor for him, and for his family." Walters, whose father, Trent, is an assistant on the Minnesota Vikings' staff, attracted little notice when he came out of high school in Texas, with only Tulsa and Sam Houston State showing much interest in recruiting him. But Willingham, then an assistant with the Vikings then, saw videotape of his friend Trent's son playing in high school games and was impressed. Then Willingham took the Stanford job, and believed Troy could play in college. He was right. Troy also benefitted from an advance course in receiving. Hanging around with his father at Vikings' practices, he watched NFL receivers in action, and also got to shag passes from the Minnesota quarterbacks. Willingham said it helped Walters that he was the son of a coach, but that he benefitted even more than most young players would have. "I watched and studied the Vikings' receivers, especially Cris Carter," Walters said. "Anytime you have a chance to study someone who's very good, it has to help you. I think I gained a lot of knowledge." Although he might be the best receiver coming out of college this year, Walters' lack of height probably will cause him to be overlooked again. Still, Walters has a goal; in fact, two of them "My final goal is to get a job in the front office of an NFL team," he said. "I want to play, then retire into a front-office job."
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