The Stanford offer is big for fast-rising OT Walter Rouse
It was an exciting week for Maryland offensive tackle Walter Rouse, and it ended with a bang. Stanford offered the fast rising prospect Friday, joining Ohio State and Notre Dame in the previous 24 hours.
Rouse got the offer after Stanford wide receiver coach Bobby Kennedy, who is his area recruiter, sent a recruiting graphic of a “Wanted” poster. Kennedy asked Rouse what the poster meant to him and Rouse focused on the part that said, “Reward: Stanford degree and championships.”
Rouse called Kennedy and offensive line coach Kevin Carberry joined the conversation. Rouse recalled what Carberry said:
“'Walter, I’ve known you for a couple months now and you’re a really great person. You seem like the type of guy who fits at Stanford. I want to offer you a full scholarship to Stanford University.’
“I kind of broke down there a little bit. I feel like Stanford is the best of both worlds with academics and football. To hear that was an amazing moment.”
Rouse visited Stanford March 26 during the spring break of Sidwell Springs School. He was going to visit a friend in Northern California, so he reached out to Carberry on Twitter to send his Hudl and introduce himself. Carberry responded and encouraged Rouse to come down to Stanford while he was in California.
It also was spring break for Stanford and, according to Rouse, Carberry was the only coach on campus because his family was still in the process of moving in from Washington D.C. Carberry spent most of the day one-on-one with Rouse.
“I had a great day with him,” Rouse said. “We toured the facilities and had lunch with him. I saw the football field and it was amazing being down there at Stanford -- the beautiful weather, the environment, the campus. It was amazing.
“I’m so glad I was able to have that day because it allowed me to see what Coach Carberry is really like. I actually was able to meet his family as well, which was amazing.”
Obviously there was no practice to watch to get a sense of how Carberry coaches, but they were able to sit down for a detailed discussion of how Carberry sees and teaches the game.
“I was able to see how he analyzes plays and what he likes in a player,” Rouse said. “Since he was with the Redskins he showed me some of their plays and some of Trent Williams’ workouts. He broke down a lot of the film for me.
“I really like that in a coach. He can make his players understand. He’s not as energetic as some other coaches who I have been with, but that’s totally fine with me because he is still very passionate about his job. He obviously is a great family man and I think that’s very important in a coach. He seemed like an all-around great guy.”
Since that visit, Carberry and Kennedy each visited Sidwell Friends to speak with the football team’s head coach, John Simon, about Rouse and to pass on their strong interest in the student-athlete.
Rouse credits the school’s demanding academic environment and his parents for his scholastic success. He has offers from Brown, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton.
“That’s why they sent me to Sidwell Friends School, which is one of the top schools in the country for academics,” he said. “I never went to Sidwell for football. Coming in at seventh grade I just wanted to fill my brain with knowledge. That’s how excited I was about learning.
"I love going to school. I didn’t get to start playing football until ninth grade. Football helped me with my education to be more disciplined and I didn’t procrastinate as much. I think the combination of Sidwell Friends and my parents, that’s why education became so important to me.
“Ever since seventh grade I have been going to medical camps. I love medicine and that’s what I want to study in college. And it’s one of the reasons I like Stanford. This past summer I was at Penn for a surgical camp for four weeks. The summer before that I was at a camp in Dallas for eight weeks at SMU.”
Rouse is an independent young man and his parents have encouraged him to go away from home for college. He also is an Eagle scout who has spent weeks at a time camping on his own.
“My mom was going crazy when she heard Stanford offered me. She was running around, jumping up, and so was my dad. As long as they know I’m getting a great education and I’m happy, they know they can get out there (to visit).”
Rouse will be in California again next week and was planning to visit Stanford even without an offer. Now he is more eager to meet other coaches and see more of what school has to offer.
The Cardinal are competing in an increasingly crowded recruitment.
“I’m trying to narrow down my schools … and it’s getting increasingly harder,” he said. “So, I have been talking with my parents and we’ll probably have a top 10 by the time the summer comes. It’s definitely gotten a little harder, but also because academics are so important to me I’m looking at schools that have the best of both worlds.”