Tawee Walker Interview 8-29-28

  • last year
Transcript
00:00 All right, Tawheed, co-starter for the '23 season.
00:03 How's that feel, given your journey to come here?
00:06 Feels great, man.
00:07 It feels great to be here with my team,
00:09 walk on under my team.
00:10 Last year was great, soaking it all in with them,
00:12 learning, it was a learning experience last year,
00:14 and I feel like I listened well and soaked it all in
00:18 and took advantage of my opportunity.
00:20 So you talk about that learning experience.
00:21 What do you think is the biggest thing you learned
00:23 year one on campus that you took with you into year two?
00:25 Adapting to the fast pace of this conference.
00:29 I'm coming from a Juco, didn't learn too much,
00:31 didn't play too fast.
00:33 I learned a lot from Eric Gray.
00:34 He was a great second coach to me after DeMarco.
00:37 DeMarco got on me tough.
00:39 That was the hardest I ever got coached last year,
00:41 so I had to adapt to that.
00:42 When I got to adapt to that,
00:44 it just made my play so much better.
00:46 You feel like you're seeing the field better,
00:47 'cause obviously you haven't played running back
00:49 all that long, you came out of high school as a safety.
00:51 So you feel like you're starting to experience
00:55 field vision a little bit better
00:57 than maybe you were a year ago at this time?
00:59 Yes, well actually I played both in high school,
01:01 but yes, coming from a Juco,
01:03 I didn't, just reading all the stuff,
01:05 I didn't get to get taught from the best like DeMarco Murray.
01:08 I didn't get taught that at my Juco.
01:09 So that's just really a learning year.
01:11 I get to see a whole bunch of stuff,
01:12 learn from him and Eric Gray.
01:13 Eric was a pro.
01:14 He taught me a whole bunch of stuff as well as DeMarco.
01:16 So just learning from him too was great.
01:19 Was there a moment when you knew you belonged on this stage?
01:22 I think I belonged here since I decided
01:26 to go to junior college.
01:27 You just have to bet on yourself.
01:29 Me personally, you have to always think that you belong
01:33 wherever you believe you belong.
01:35 You just have to show that you're capable.
01:37 Were you surprised to find out
01:38 you were on that Coast Guard all year in August?
01:40 Yes and no.
01:43 I think I put in a lot of work
01:45 and I think my teammates and my coach
01:47 got me to where I needed to be,
01:48 to where I earned the spot.
01:50 But yes, I was happy and surprised.
01:53 What was it like when you got that news?
01:55 It was a big moment for me,
01:57 especially to tell my parents and my family
01:59 that they were very excited to hear that.
02:02 You've always had a role on this team though
02:03 because you're a great special teams player.
02:05 So you've always had a role.
02:06 This is gonna expand it of course.
02:08 But it's not like you're a total newcomer to the squad.
02:12 You know what's going on with this team, right?
02:14 Yes sir, last year I just played my part.
02:16 I still was a leader, a quiet leader.
02:17 I didn't ever complain about,
02:19 I knew my time was gonna come.
02:21 Just be patient and just be the team that I can be,
02:23 best team I can be.
02:24 When you look at Brent,
02:26 I mean he mentioned a lot about availability
02:28 is the best ability in terms of your health
02:30 and being available, being that guy at practice.
02:32 What have you done sort of on and off the field
02:35 to maintain a consistent approach
02:36 that Brent was talking about?
02:38 So me, I'm a real question guy.
02:39 Like I asked DeMarco what he does when he got hurt.
02:43 Everything, I just soak it in
02:44 and I go in the training room,
02:45 get in the cold tub, get recovery every day,
02:48 every aspect of it.
02:49 I just ask questions and I do what the greats did
02:51 to just to be, stay healthy.
02:54 Coach talked about you a lot today at his press conference.
02:57 He talked about a lot of your qualities.
02:58 What would you say about your own game?
03:01 What kind of qualities do you bring to the field?
03:03 I think I'm a very strong and powerful back,
03:05 a downhill back.
03:07 I think I can do it all,
03:08 but that's my best of ability is running through people
03:12 and just running tough with toughness.
03:14 Yeah, one of your teammates just told us
03:15 the first guy never brings it down.
03:17 Sometimes it takes all 11.
03:18 Yes sir, I believe the same thing.
03:21 What do you think you've done
03:22 to put yourself in this position
03:23 to earn a spot as the co-starter?
03:25 I just think I've been a great leader,
03:27 setting by example.
03:28 I'm not real vocal.
03:29 I lead by, I try to lead by example
03:31 and just listening to my coaches
03:32 and listen to the people ahead of me.
03:33 Like I keep mentioning his name, Eric Gray.
03:36 He really was a big, big spot last year for me.
03:39 Just like listening to him,
03:41 advice from him and DeMarco, just taking it all in.
03:43 Tom, you mentioned you're getting to call your family
03:45 and let them know.
03:46 Are they gonna be here on Saturday?
03:49 So my, I have a son, so my son will be here.
03:51 His mother will be here.
03:52 Her family will be here.
03:53 And my best friends will be here.
03:54 My brother has a game.
03:56 He plays at a D2 in Texas.
03:57 My mom will be there.
03:59 And my father will be at home,
04:01 watching it with the whole family back home.
04:03 You talk about betting on yourself,
04:05 your path to getting to this point.
04:07 You don't know what the next 12 games will have in store,
04:09 but just getting that moment Saturday.
04:11 What's that gonna mean, not just to you,
04:12 but to those folks who might be here watching
04:14 or gonna be at home watching?
04:15 They're gonna be excited, just as excited as I am.
04:17 They seen it all.
04:18 They seen, my family has seen the journey I've been through
04:20 and they just gonna hope I capitalize on opportunity
04:23 like I do myself.
04:23 My son is two years old.
04:26 - What is the relationship with DeMarco been like?
04:29 I mean, he kind of was the same way
04:31 when he was a running back here,
04:33 lead by example, less vocality.
04:35 I mean, walk me through your relationship with him
04:37 and what his leadership has meant to you.
04:40 - It's, we have a real good relationship.
04:42 Last year, I didn't take it as well.
04:44 I thought he didn't like me, but he's just a hell of a coach.
04:48 I'm sorry, he's a super, super good coach.
04:50 I'm sorry.
04:51 And he's just super hard on me,
04:56 but that's just, it worked out perfect.
04:58 I finally listened to him and just took everything in
05:02 and transferred it to the field.
05:04 - What made you think he didn't like you?
05:06 - He just was, he just was on, he was just on me.
05:09 He, this is how he coaches.
05:10 I just not used to that.
05:11 I'm used to being like, just the coach,
05:14 just being my best friend and being real cool.
05:16 Now my junior college, they never, I was just,
05:18 I can do anything I wanted at my junior college.
05:20 Here, it was total opposite.
05:22 You have to earn it.
05:23 - Sorry to cut you off.
05:24 Was there a moment that it ever clicked?
05:25 I mean, thinking that not he hates you,
05:29 but having that feeling of like, man, this guy's on me too.
05:32 Finally getting to the co-starter position.
05:35 Was there ever sort of a moment where like,
05:37 I could finally do this?
05:38 - I always thought I can do it.
05:39 It's just, I had to adapt to it.
05:41 I was just hardheaded in my first year.
05:43 Just wasn't ready, wasn't humble.
05:45 Wasn't, I just didn't take it in.
05:47 Like, he's a great coach and I just had to finally adapt
05:50 to it and listen to what he said.
05:52 'Cause he was never staring me wrong.
05:53 I just was a hardheaded and wasn't humble enough
05:55 to understand that last year.
05:57 - Man, you've had a unique journey doing post-grad prep
06:00 and then obviously the Juco route here at Oklahoma.
06:03 How do you feel like your journey has prepared you
06:06 for the challenge of coming to a place like Oklahoma
06:07 where you got to battle for playing time
06:09 with a bunch of guys that were blue chip recruits
06:12 and really earned your key?
06:13 - It makes it easy because we're all still a family.
06:16 The running backs, we compete,
06:18 but we all help each other out.
06:19 When nobody is trying to like be enemies,
06:24 everybody's helping each other out.
06:25 If I'm wrong, somebody's still gonna help me out.
06:27 We're still brothers at the end of the day.
06:28 So they made it easier for me 'cause we're a family.
06:30 Nobody's, like we're competing,
06:33 but it's all love at the end of the day.
06:34 We're not hating on anybody, mad at anybody.
06:36 We're all helping each other out.
06:37 So my teammates made it real easy for that.
06:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]