Sean Walker’s birthday was August 15, but perhaps his best present came a day early: a game-winning touchdown catch for the St. Louis Rams in their preseason match-up with the New York Jets.
The undrafted rookie out of Vanderbilt known for his big-play ability in his college days made a big play in his first professional action on Aug. 14. After catching a pass earlier for five yards, Walker found himself open in the end zone, snaring a 13-yard pass thrown over his left shoulder by another rookie, Keith Null. Walker made the grab with two defenders around him with 7:32 to play in the fourth quarter to rally the Rams to a 23-20 victory.
“I lined up and the coverage went my way and I was open, and the quarterback saw it and threw it to me, and I saw it was behind me, which was a great throw because of the coverages, and I made a great catch,” Walker said.
Preseason games mean nothing for a team’s season hopes (just ask last year’s Detroit Lions, who swept through four preseason contests before dropping all 16 games once significant action began), but they mean everything to young players trying to impress enough to make a final roster.
“Obviously the competition is really tough with the receivers right now,” Walker said. “We have a lot of great guys. All of us are good for the job.”
Walker finished the game with two catches for 18 yards and his big score, but he knows more than anyone how difficult it is to make an NFL roster. Games like the one he had Friday help, but his mission at training camp remains to improve enough to do his job perfectly.
“Just doing everything right. Doing my assignments, not trying to do anything more,” Walker said. “Just focusing and going with the scheme, and If I do that, I will have faith and focus. If I have faith and focus, I will finish. And so I feel like I will do those things and I will compete well and I will help the team out best I can.”
This comes after a year where Walker helped out his college team to its best season in a generation.
After losing Earl Bennett to the NFL Draft, Walker was looked at as the leader of a thin Vanderbilt receiving corps and stepped up, leading the Commodores with 36 catches for 520 yards, and doing it with three different quarterbacks. He scored the team’s first touchdown of the year on a four-yard from Chris Nickson in a season-opening victory over Miami (OH), the longest touchdown of the year against Duke, a 79-yard bomb from Mackenzi Adams, and made Vanderbilt’s biggest offensive play of its Music City Bowl win over Boston College, catching a 51-yard pass from Larry Smith to set up a crucial field goal.
“At Vandy we played tough competition every week, we played in the SEC,” Walker said. “Our coaches taught me a lot of things that I’m applying now to the next level.”
Walker has a long way to go before he can hope of seeing action in regular season play. For the moment though, he can enjoy his heroics. His cell phone was flooded with messages and phone calls from well-wishers after his game-winning catch, not all from people he knew.
“A lot of unknown calls,” he laughed. “I’m staying humble though. I’m not going to let the hype get to me. All I want to do is see every down, do everything right. I’m going to focus.”
