O-State first to offer Oklahoma TE

Junior to Watch: Justin Waller

School: Ponca City, Okla.

Position: Tight end

Size and speed: Waller is 6-foot-4, 220-pounds and has been timed in the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds. He has a 340-pound bench press and a 420-pound squat.

Honors: Waller was an honorable mention all-state selection by the Daily Oklahoman.

Statistics: Waller didn’t recall all of his stats at this point, but did point out in a run-oriented offense he did catch two touchdown passes. He also said he had solid stats on defense but wasn’t aware of them at this point.

Favorite Schools: Waller has a scholarship offer from Oklahoma State and he lists the Cowboys, Oklahoma, Stanford, Colorado, Kansas, Stanford, Colorado State, Purdue and Duke as teams that are showing him heavy interest.

Skinny: For Ponca City, Okla., tight end/defensive end Justin Waller, high school football was just something to help him improve his footwork before basketball season started.

He never thought when his dad and his high school basketball coach were making him go to practice every day that he’d eventually have a future in college football.

Isn’t it funny how things turn out?

Waller is one of the state of Oklahoma’s top prospects for the Class of 2004 and his physical attributes, good grades and play on the football field – instead of the basketball court – has already earned him a college scholarship from Oklahoma State with more sure to come in the near future.

“It’s a matter of fact, I wasn’t even going to play football my freshman season and just focus on basketball,” Waller said. “But my dad and the basketball coach said that since I was going to play varsity as a freshman that they wanted me to play football, so I could work on my footwork, quickness and get in good shape. They said the only way to get in shape for 6A basketball was football.

“I guess now I’m glad my coaches and my dad made me play.”

He sure is.

Waller has the physical skills that college coaches crave. He’s 6-foot-4, 220-pounds, runs a 4.7-second 40-yard dash and has a 340-pound bench-press. Simply put, Waller’s physical attributes are off the wall and he’s only going to get bigger, stronger and faster.

“I want to get better,” Waller said. “I love lifting weights. I’m actually real sore today because I was working on my squat. I can’t stand losing weight and think I’ll get even stronger and add even more weight by the end of the summer. I think it’s really great to work hard in the weight room to constantly get better and better.”

And Waller knows that he’s a work in progress. He said he’s going to dedicate himself this summer to work hard on his blocking skills and he also hopes to be bench-pressing around 380 pounds and squat around the 500-pound mark. Just think what the college coaches are going to say when he reaches those goals – and you know that he will.

“I never thought any of this (recruiting attention) would happen like it has,” Waller said. “I’m really excited, and it’s all came as a big surprise to me. I don’t know a whole lot about the recruiting process, but I’m starting to get excited after talking to the coaches at Oklahoma State and from all the letters that I’ve gotten.”

Waller has been getting a lot of personal letters from Colorado and Oklahoma, and he has also gotten a good amount of mail from teams like Kansas, Stanford, Colorado State, Purdue and Duke.

“I grew up a big fan of the Oklahoma Sooners,” Waller said. “But now that all of this is happening, I don’t have a favorite school. I’m going to look at each school and look at the pros and cons and try to make a decision on serious issues – not just because I’m a OU fan. I want to take my time.

“This is a life-changing decision. I want to be at a school that I like in case I get hurt in football. First of all I want to look and see what type of academic program the school has. I’m really interested in business and history. After that I’ll look at the football facilities.”

For a long, long time, Waller thought he’d be looking at basketball facilities at this point, but in the end he’s glad that it’s turned out this way.

“I’m so grateful,” he said.