Atascadero native Weston Walker earns playing time with Mustangs as a walk-on

Posted: Sep 18, 2012 9:59 PM by Bill Halter
Updated: Sep 18, 2012 10:28 PM

Atascadero grad Walker earns playing time with Mustangs as a walk-on

It didn't take long for Atascadero High graduate Weston Walker to find a position on the Cal Poly football team. The former Greyhound is the Mustangs' snapper on field goals and extra points.

Walker played football, basketball and baseball at Atascadero High, the whole time knowing what he was going to do in college. "I love Cal Poly football, I always have. It's just been a dream of mine," said Walker.

Weston accomplished his childhood dream of playing for the hometown team by walking on at Cal Poly. He redshirted last season.

"In a program like ours we need guys to walk on and show us that they can play. Weston has definitely made huge improvements both as a long and short snapper for us. But also more importantly as an offensive lineman. Wes' deal is how big he can get. If you look at him he's still fairly young looking at 255 pounds. So I think his best is yet to come," said Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh.

Weight has been Walker's biggest issue since joining the Mustangs. It's not that he's too big, but rather he's not big enough. "I've just been trying to eat more than I would like too. But I've gained about 45 pounds since high school and I can still move alright," said Walker.

Weston has only played as the snapper on kicking downs, but he's hoping for more of a workload. "My goal was just to get on the field. I've gotten there and now I've just got to work toward more playing time," said Walker.

Weston is eighth or ninth on the offensive line depth chart. He hopes to be a starting tackle some day.

Cal Poly is coming off a thrilling upset at Wyoming. The now 2-0 Mustangs host rival UC Davis this Saturday in their first-ever Big Sky Conference game. The game will be televised live on KSBY-TV. The pregame show is at 5:30 pm with kickoff to follow at 6:05 pm. Bill Halter, Andrew Masuda and Dave Hovde form the broadcast crew for KSBY.