Last Saturday at Oregon, the Sooners were already down 7-0 in the first quarter and the Ducks were knocking at the door again.
Oklahoma co-defensive coordinators Brent Venables and Bobby Jack Wright remember the moment well.
As a record Autzen Stadium crowd of 59,269 screamed like banshees, all they could hear was OU cornerback Marcus Walker screaming to a different tone, but it was music to their ears.
“When things aren’t going great and the guy says, ‘Put me in. I’m you’re guy.’ What more could you ask? That’s what you want,” Venables said.
The Sooners’ 34-33 loss to the Ducks will be remembered for a lot of different things, but it could also go down as the game Walker asserted himself as a mainstay in the Sooner secondary.
It’s something OU has been looking for. Reggie Smith has been dominant at one cornerback. He’s locked down receivers all season.
But the other side has been a revolving door. D.J. Wolfe started 11 games there last season, but lost his job after poor performances against Alabama-Birmingham and Washington.
Lendy Holmes took over in the second quarter against Huskies, but struggled early against the Ducks.
Walker was the only option the Sooners had left. Luckily for them, the junior from Waco, Texas, was literally chomping at the bit to be thrown into the fire.
“Everybody wants to compete,” Walker said. “That was just the competitiveness in me coming out.”
On his first play, he broke up a fade route in the end zone, forcing the Ducks to settle for a field goal. He finished the day with five pass breakups and was solid in every sense of the word.
Wright said Walker gave the Sooners something else.
“He played great,” Wright said. “He was a spark.”
And a spark is something OU’s defense has been looking.
The unit has been plagued by inconsistent play in all three games. The problems have been too vast to peg on one position.
The Sooners have struggled against the run and the pass, and given up big plays in both.
But mistakes in the secondary get magnified.
“There’s no margin for error back there,” Venables said.
Walker is well aware. His first appearance in the Sooner secondary was on the hottest of hot seats.
Back in 2004, OU was trailing Texas A&M; by two touchdowns at Kyle Field. The Sooners’ national title hopes were dimming as Aggie quarterback Reggie McNeal kept burning them for big plays.
Walker was nine games into a redshirt season, but that all changed that afternoon.
The coaching staff sent him out there to stop the bleeding and he was a tourniquet. He stayed in that cornerback spot all the way through the Orange Bowl.
Most, including Walker, figured he’d be a mainstay the next three years, but it wasn’t meant to be.
He missed spring practice in 2005 to repair an injured shoulder. Then he injured the other shoulder prior to the 2005 season.
He played as a sophomore, but the injury had a lingering effect on him. He only played in six games and only had eight tackles.
“He’s gone through a lot of rehab and a lot of tough times where he had to sit and wait and work his way back,” Wright said. “He’s done that and he’s done that with the right attitude … He’s developing into the kind of player we thought he could be that first year he got here.”
Walker will join Smith as the Sooners’ starting cornerbacks when they face Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m. Saturday at Owen Field.
It will be Walker’s first start since OU faced Southern California in the 2005 Orange Bowl. It’s a night he’s fought long and hard to reach.
“It’s been a long time for me,” he said. “I’ve been down. I’ve had to battle with injuries and it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to play. I think now that I’m 100 percent, I can run around and compete at a high level. I just want to show what I can do.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Related Photos
Discussion
Walker back on track
- OU Sports
-
-
Sooners did not show up to play
Texas had something to play for. So there’s that. If the Longhorns are to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, this was just the kind of game they absolutely had to win....
-
With W.V. set free by Big East, Big 12 schedule’s out and it’s backloaded for Sooners
With West Virginia finally receiving its release from the Big East Conference on Tuesday, the Big 12 Conference was finally able to release its conference football schedule for the 2012 season....
-
Red River rut
The rut Oklahoma has been trying to escape for the last two weeks continued to grow deeper with a 69-58 loss to Texas Tuesday night at Lloyd Noble Center....
-
OU gearing up for Texas’ Brown
If Oklahoma guard Steven Pledger had his way, tonight’s meeting with Texas will come down to two players: himself and Longhorn guard J’Covan Brown....
-
Sooners will have a dramatically new look up and down the order, on the mound
The clubhouse at L. Dale Mitchell Park hasn’t changed over the last year. Just about everything else has since the 2011 baseball season ended. The locker stalls have 20 new nameplates. The coaches’ locker room has two new ones as well. ...
-
Despite hard fight, UConn wins big
By its own standards, the Connecticut team that took the floor Monday night at Lloyd Noble Center was not in the same class as its previous incarnations. But a down year for the seven-time national champions is still better than just ...
-
Believe it or not, OU women are progressing
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma appeared plenty willing to embarrass Oklahoma for a third time in seven games....
-
OU reeling from stunning loss to Texas Tech
As Oklahoma’s players headed toward the exit at United Spirit Arena on Saturday night, most had dazed looks on their faces. The 65-47 loss to Texas Tech was something they didn’t see coming....
-
Husky challenge
No time might seem like a good time to face Connecticut. The Huskies are always terrific and this season will enter Lloyd Noble Center likely ranked No. 2 following Notre Dame’s Sunday loss to West Virginia....
-
Sooners put finishing touches on perfect opener
Oklahoma capped off a perfect opening weekend of softball on Sunday with an 11-1 victory over Kent State. The Sooners were led by another strong outing from pitcher Keilani Rickets and an offensive explosion by Allee Allen....
- More OU Sports Headlines
-
Sooners did not show up to play
