Walton looking for more offers

Dustin Walton already has one offer but the Raton, N.M., pro-style quarterback is taking visits and throwing for coaches in the hopes of getting more.

This week he's in Los Angeles and will visit UCLA. He's been to Arizona State and is hoping for an offer. Coaches from numerous schools have stopped by his high school as well including Kansas, New Mexico and New Mexico State.

"I think an offer is pretty close from Arizona State and Kansas," Walton said. "What Arizona State told me is that they're waiting on it until they see me throw live so that's why I'm going to stop there on my way home from California.

"Kansas really likes me a lot, coach (Chuck) Long saw me throw in person so he came off like he was really impressed and he's going to go back home and talk to some coaches but I haven't heard back from them yet."

Colorado State was the first school to offer Walton, a 6-foot-4, 223-pound prospect who threw for 3,381 yards with 39 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season. The offer came by complete surprise, too, but Walton is happy he's on the board.

"It means the world to me," Walton said. "I was sitting here waiting for that first offer and I never even visited or heard anything from Colorado State and one day they called and they offered. It was a big surprise to me because I didn't know they were interested or anything, they just saw the highlight film and gave me a call.

"During spring break I went to Colorado State and Arizona State for two days. I was really impressed with both, the coaches, the town itself, the campus was great for both of them.

"Out of those two I'm leaning toward Arizona State. It's just a better fit for me. I have family down there and I know the town a little better. If that does happen I'm leaning a little bit more toward that."

Walton's hope is that after throwing at UCLA and stopping at Arizona State before returning to his home in New Mexico that more schools start to get involved.

Maybe he'll hear something from Kansas. New Mexico and New Mexico State have been slow to contact him but something could happen there. Or it could be another situation like Colorado State where a school offers him out of nowhere. More than anything, Walton is looking for options and he hopes something happens soon.

"I believe if you get one or two they just kind of make a snowball effect and more keep coming in," Walton said. "If you get an offer from someone, teams in that conference are going to look at it and say what did they see that we didn't see or at least pay attention a little bit better, take the time to get to know me more."