His first plan for a post-football career was to become Gordon Gekko.
Yes, Northwestern’s Anthony Walker would dominate Wall Street.
Then he changed his mind. Walker would become a sports agent.
Then he saw “Draft Day,” and Kevin Costner’s character appealed to him.
“I want be a GM one day,” Walker said.
OK, so Walker doesn’t quite have his long-term future figured out. Hey, he turned 19 in August.
But his immediate future could not look any brighter after he surged from unknown commodity to hot commodity Saturday at Penn State. Subbing for injured middle linebacker Collin Ellis, Walker led Northwestern with eight tackles and produced the play of the game — a 49-yard pick-six of Christian Hackenberg that gave the Wildcats a 20-6 lead.
“We knew they were dinking and dunking us down the field,” Walker said. “I just pushed out to my receiver and Hackenberg threw it right to me.”
Walker credited defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz for designing the play. And Ellis for preparing him, saying: “Most of my success in that game was Collin — working with me, watching film.”
Can you tell that Walker is the son of a football coach?
As a boy, he tagged along with Anthony Walker Sr. to youth-league practices.
“I’d be catching the ball, running around,” he recalled. “I was just happy being out there with my dad.”
The senior Walker remembers when Anthony mimicked the players, who were doing pushups. He was 2 years old.
“He got down and did ’em,” Walker recalled. “The other coaches and I thought: ‘Really?’ He’s been around football all his life and has a high football IQ.”
As Ellis put it: “It’s pretty incredible to listen to a redshirt freshman talk about (defensive) concepts and really understand what’s going on. That’s why he is able to play fast.”
Ellis, sidelined at Penn State after suffering a concussion seven days earlier, said he told Walker last week: “Everyone’s going to know who you are after this game.”
Growing up in South Florida, Walker had some trouble getting his name out to recruiters. That is, until he went to a Nike camp after his junior season at Monsignor Pace High School and ran the 40 in 4.48 seconds. His 4.7 grade-point average attracted NU coach Marty Long, who recruits the area.
“There are a lot of guys in South Florida,” NU coach Pat Fitzgerald said, “but Marty Long is really good at targeting the right guys.”
Undersized for a linebacker at 6-foot-1 and 208 pounds, Walker did not receive a scholarship offer from the hometown Miami Hurricanes until he had committed to Northwestern. Too late.
“I went to every football game there since I was 5 years old,” Walker said. “Of course everyone wants to play for their hometown school. But I was not switching.”
Said the senior Walker, the offensive coordinator at Monsignor Pace: “Coach Fitz been good to us, upfront and truthful.”
He still is. Fitzgerald was quick to point out that Walker made “10 mental errors” at Penn State, including a failure to cover running back Bill Belton on a wheel route that Hackenberg underthrew.
“Anthony is kind of like (freshman tailback) Justin Jackson after the first game; everybody wanted to build a statue for Justin,” Fitzgerald said. “I love that he played well, but I think he can play a lot better.”
Walker agreed, saying: “You have to be your own critic first. I made too many mistakes that can get our team beat. I’m using that as fuel this week.”
Ellis has been cleared to return, and the fourth-year senior won’t lose his starting spot to an injury. He or Walker could slide to strong-side linebacker to get both on the field Saturday against Wisconsin. More likely they will share time while trying to fight off the Badgers’ bruising offensive line and tackle the elusive Melvin Gordon.
“To have linebackers that are full, 100 percent, not winded in any way,” Ellis said, “that’s what helps you win four-quarter games against big-time teams.”
Injury report: Northwestern will be without four injured players against Wisconsin: Safety Ibraheim Campbell, guard Ian Park, tailback Solomon Vault and special-teams ace Keith Watkins.
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
