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FIRST-TEAMER Walker is preparing for his third season as Penn State's starting left tackle. He's started all 22 of Penn State's games in the past two seasons. Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK Rasheed Walker was already a proven offensive tackle, but he chose to return for one more season at PSU in the hope of showcasing his emergence as one of the country's elite linemen | S P O T L I G H T O F F E N S I V E L I N E M E N >> n the sport of football, being bigger and stronger than your opponent is, generally speaking, an asset. But not always. While size and strength are the pathways to playing time at the high school, college and NFL levels, they can be impediments when players are just starting out. At least that's how Rasheed Walker felt when he first tried to take up the sport as a grade- schooler. Growing up, Walker was one of the biggest kids in his class. That meant his team, FBR Tar Heels, which competed in a youth league in southeastern Washington, D.C., often was forced to hold him out of action. "I was probably 6 or 7, but I was way bigger than all the other 6- or 7-year-olds," Walker recalled. "Pop Warner football goes by weights. My first season, I really only played three games because I could never make the weight. I was just a big kid. … I would practice, and then right before the game they would do weigh-ins. I would get on the scale and I'd be like two pounds over and they would tell me I couldn't play." That might sound like just the sort of frustra- tion that would sour a young player on continu- ing with football. But Walker was undeterred. He liked the game and didn't want to give it up. By the time he got to high school, freed from the weight restrictions that had held him back earlier, he was more than ready to take his place on the defensive line. Said Walker, "I was just trying to make up for all the years when I wasn't able to play because of my weight." There was still one more delay to be endured. While he was put on the varsity team as a fresh- man, he didn't get to play. But as a sophomore, Walker moved from the defensive line to offen- sive tackle. He made the move reluctantly, having practiced and played exclusively on defense since his Pop Warner days. He was determined to get on the field, though, and that's exactly what he did. Ever since then, it's been all but impossible to keep him off it. This fall, Walker will be entering his third and almost assuredly final season as Penn State's starting left tackle. He's been a fixture on the Nittany Lions' first-team offensive front since 2019 and has continued to make progress throughout his tenure. This past spring, he was looking better than he's ever looked, head coach James Franklin said. "I think Rasheed Walker is practicing the way he needs to practice to be the type of player that he wants to be," Franklin said. "I've seen a real change in him." What type of player does Walker want to be? Offensive line coach Phil Trautwein knows the answer to that question after having played a role in Walker's decision to postpone his NFL career and return to Penn State for one more year. "He came back with the mindset that he wants to be a first-rounder," Trautwein said. "He wants to lead his team to a national championship, a Big I >>

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