Bedlam Battle Emerging

Heading into his junior season, Oklahoma City Bishop McGuinness’ Brynden Walker knew it was his time to make a move.

Although you still see some recruits emerge as seniors, it’s a lot more common for the junior season to become the breakout opportunity. It was definitely Walker’s mindset.

He thought he failed. He thought is the key phrase there. Walked finished with 43 tackles and 10 sacks and without offer No. 1.

“Coming out of my junior year, I thought I had such a bad year,” Walker said. “I didn’t meet any of my personal goals. I had accepted I was going to have to ball out my senior year to get noticed.”

Maybe not.

Things started to get rolling for Walker when SMU offered on Jan. 28. He has no issues at all remembering that date. That’s the one that let him know he was going to have a chance to play football at the next level.

As happens often in recruiting, one offer became two and soon enough, the train was chugging along with big offers coming his way.

It was Oklahoma State that stood out initially. The vibe he felt with the coaches and the feeling of being home at the facilities. It was enough for Walker to make the commitment call and make him realize he wants to stay in the state.

“Before OSU, I’m going to be honest, I was trying to get out of Oklahoma,” Walker said. “I was sick of this place. But the one thing I don’t want to do is get homesick. I want my mom, my sister to be there for every game.”

Walker, the son of former LSU and NFL defensive back Denard Walker, had accepted he was going to leave the state. His mother is originally from Oklahoma City, and that’s how he’s ended up an Okie, but he was ready to leave.

OSU came, and then sure enough, here came the Sooners. On Easter weekend, the Sooners made the offer to Walker.

OU and OSU both see Walker’s future as a linebacker, which is a huge relief for Walker. Offense gets all the headlines, but it’s not what Walker has ever wanted to do.

“I hate offense,” Walker said. “It’s not really fun to me. I’m much more of a defensive guy. It’s in my blood, I guess, is a little bit of it. But I definitely have a lot more fun on the defensive side.”

It took a while for OU to come around to that fact. OSU has mentioned to Walker about being an outside linebacker or a rush end with his hand in the dirt.

The Sooners, however, first took notice of Walker last year offensively. There was a period of time where Walker seemed poised to become a tight end/H-Back recruit, and it was Cale Gundy doing the heavy lifting.

As OU started to look at more tight ends, the Sooners became out of sight and out of mind. Walker felt like he had done everything he could do, so there was no point in dwelling on the lack of an OU offer.

Enter a new defensive coaching staff, anchored by defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and inside linebackers coach Brian Odom, and the door was opened again. The offer, where OU sees him as either an inside linebacker or an outside linebacker, was just the start.

“I talk to them pretty much every day,” Walker said. “Odom, especially. They’re both really intense guys. There’s just something about Odom. I can’t even explain. He’s something else.

“He has this whole demeanor about him that is very intense, very business-like. It’s something that I like, but it could scare people away.”

Walker had been a frequent visitor to OU for games but had never met with any coaches. That changed last weekend when Walker had the red-carpet treatment for an unofficial visit.

“It was a lot to take in,” Walker said. “One, it’s a top-tier school, a blue blood. Experiencing the facilities and the coaches – it was really nice.”

Walker wasn’t practicing last week when SoonerScoop.com visited McGuinness, but OSU still sent two assistant coaches even though there was nothing they could watch.

Walker is still figuring things out between the Bedlam rivals. He’s eager to make his final choice as soon as possible because he plans to sign early and just focus on his senior season with the Irish.

So Walker has gone from questioning his success as a junior and wondering whether he’d get a scholarship to now becoming a top priority for the Sooners and Cowboys. A lot can change in a short period of time.