Rice football had a rough outing against Wake Forest, but senior running back Austin Walter did his part, leaving the game with more than one huge play.
Austin Walter entered Rice football’s Week 5 game against Wake Forest fourth in the country in All-Purpose yards, trailing two players that had already played their fifth game. Pound for pound, there isn’t another athlete that impacts the game as much as he does. That was even more evident after Walter tallied another 256 yards against the Demon Deacons.
Walter had two kickoff returns for 69 yards, led the Owls in receiving with five catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, and led the team in rushing with 18 carries, 165 yards and a score on the ground. When he touches the ball, magic happens. Let’s walk through three of his biggest plays:
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1. The 47-yard run
The offensive line had another up and down day, but they guys up front deserve as much credit as Walter for this big run in the third quarter. When Walter got the handoff from quarterback Shawn Stankavage he had a big hole to run through with nearly 15 yards of open space between him and the Wake Forest safety over the top.
The corner over pursued, wide receiver Aaron Cephus made a big block and Walter turned on the jets, nearly outrunning the rest of the secondary completely before he was pushed out of bounds after a big gain. His speed and commitment to his cuts, paired with excellent blocking, set up the Owls’ biggest play of the game.
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2. The shovel pass
Offensive coordinator Jerry Mack deserves a pat on the back for this play call. In their hurry to get into the backfield the Wake Forest defensive line creates a pocket for Austin Walter in the middle of the field. Stankavage completes the pitch and catch, but Walter explodes once the ball is secured in his hands.
A Wake Forest linebacker trails Walter, but can’t get a hand on him as Walter disappears up the middle. Somehow a safety is able to split a pair of would-be blockers, but Walter makes a shoe-shaking cut that leaves the defender on the ground as he waltzes into the endzone.
https://twitter.com/swcroundup/status/1046156096396816384
3. The all-effort touchdown
Even though the score was still decidedly one-sided in the Demon Deacons’ favor, Austin Walter’s motor never slowed. The shifty back exploded out of the I-Formation, beating an unblocked linebacker by running through an arm tackle around his shoulders.
Still engaged with the first defender, Walter kept his legs moving and his eyes upfield. That enabled him to pick up his blockers and make one more cut. Then he was off to the races. The Wake Forest safety should have been able to at least force him out of bounds, but by the time he realized what angle he’d need to take, Walter was already past him.
The Rice football offense has work to do before it’s truly functioning at the highest level it’s capable of, but until that happens, Austin Walter is here to smooth out the rough spots. He’s a home run threat waiting to happen and he’s pretty hard to tackle. Give him one block, he’ll get 10 yards. Give him two, and he might just take it to the house — it doesn’t matter if he’s eight-yards away from the endzone or 80, he scores touchdowns..
