Transfer tackle Walter Rouse hopes for final decision within next couple days, discusses 'great' Husker visit
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ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 17 hours ago
It's not easy when circling a final answer on this one,
Walter Rouse will acknowledge. And this is one smart guy.
The offensive tackle who is considering Nebraska, Cockeye and Oklahoma as his options to play one more year of college football will also eventually earn a degree in biomechanical engineering from Stanford.
Told you he’s sharp. But all the contenders for his football talents in 2023 have made it tough on the man who was a four-year starter at Stanford – tough in a good way.
"I really thought this time around, different from my (high school) recruiting, I thought it was going to be easier, but it's not," Rouse said Monday night. "Each of the schools that I went to visit have all of the qualities that I'm looking for, and a school that I believe can help get me better and improve into a better offensive tackle. And coming to that school that has a great culture of wanting to win and great coaches. It's going to just come down to a lot of talks with my family, prayer and what truly just feels best from the bottom of my heart.
"Because they all check the boxes. All have great facilities. Great coaches. Great history with the programs."
To give an idea of how much Rouse is tossing around the possibilities of each school, he said he was up for about four extra hours Sunday night into the early morning. “Just going back and forth in my head of what would be the best school for me, visualizing myself playing at that school, going to that school and taking classes there."
Other schools besides the aforementioned three have tried to come in late with certain NIL deals.
"But when it comes to the money, that's not what I'm doing this for," he said. "While that is an added benefit, I'm not really entertaining any other schools right now. It's just those three."
He'd love to come to a final decision as soon as possible. "I'd say (Tuesday) or Wednesday, I would definitely like to have an answer on my decision."
Rouse visited all three schools within the last week, finishing off the trips by checking out Nebraska over the weekend after time in Cockeye City.
"I got to say that my trip to Nebraska, I thought it was great. The first thing off the bat that surprised me was just the university itself. I've never been to Nebraska before so I thought it was going to be more rural in terms of the campus and whatnot," Rouse told Husker247. "But that's not at all what I found. The downtown and all these hotels, places to go out, food spots, bars, it was really surprising."
Rouse was excited for his trip to Lincoln to begin with "and from then on things kind of got better from there," he added. "I got to say I was pleasantly surprised all the way throughout."
The new Nebraska football facility that should be completed by the summer certainly impressed.
"One of a kind. When it's done it's probably going to be the best in the country," Rouse said. "The only drawback I'd say is I wish it was completed now, but aside from that, I really don't have any negatives from the trip. I think I meshed well with the coaching staff and from those two days I already have a great relationship with them. I've been in constant contact since then, but yeah, it's been a great trip all around."
And what did he make of Nebraska's new head man
Matt Rhule and returning O-line coach
Donovan Raiola?
"When I met him in person, I was like, 'Oh, this is not at all who I thought I was meeting over the phone.' He was a great guy with a lot of energy," Rouse said of Rhule. "He kept that energy all throughout the visit. Same with Raiola. I even talked with one of the O-lineman there who was happy that Raiola was the one guy who got to come back from the changeover with Rhule's new staff. Because he's that good of a coach. He said, if he tells them to jump, he says, 'How high?'
"From the very beginning they laid out what their plan was for me if I were to come here. They said, 'we have all the answers to the test and now it's time to just apply those answers. It's time to make you into the tackle that we know you can be.' They said if I come here I would be the left tackle and that's what I'm planning on going to a school for, and helping that school win and they're making me better."
While Rouse hasn't received his degree from Stanford yet, he plans to go back and put in the finishing work to secure it from there at a later date. He added that it's a plan he has worked out with the academic counselors at Stanford and also something he spoke with academic personnel at Nebraska about on his visit here.
Rouse has been quite accomplished off the field. This past fall he was named a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which annually recognizes the best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. Rouse became Stanford's 15th all-time finalist.
Certainly the discussions about academics were important on his visits. While in Lincoln, Nebraska academic personnel were supportive of his plans ahead.
"They didn't really have anything they said that I didn't like," he said of the time in Lincoln. "I really liked everything that was going on."
