<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3udcu6_0shln4Z300" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3udcu6_0shln4Z300" width="1003" height="525" >Former offensive tackle for the Oklahoma Sooners, Walter Rouse, talks being picked by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2024 NFL DraftWhen the sixth round of the 2024 <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/longformarticle/nfl-draft-2024-results-oklahoma-sooners-tyler-guyton-walter-rouse-jonah-laulu-drake-stoops-231124082/">NFL Draft</a> came around on Saturday afternoon, former Oklahoma offensive tackle <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/walter-rouse-46053801/">Walter Rouse</a> was the first off the board. <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/walter-rouse-oklahoma-sooners-offensive-lineman-selected-by-minnesota-vikings-in-nfl-draft-231044856/">The Minnesota Vikings took Rouse with the first pick in the sixth round, selecting him 177</a><a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/walter-rouse-oklahoma-sooners-offensive-lineman-selected-by-minnesota-vikings-in-nfl-draft-231044856/">th</a> <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/walter-rouse-oklahoma-sooners-offensive-lineman-selected-by-minnesota-vikings-in-nfl-draft-231044856/">overall.</a><a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/bill-bedenbaugh-nfl-draft-development-track-record-growing-oklahoma-sooners-tyler-guyton-231034363/">Rouse became the 13</a><a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/bill-bedenbaugh-nfl-draft-development-track-record-growing-oklahoma-sooners-tyler-guyton-231034363/">th</a> <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/bill-bedenbaugh-nfl-draft-development-track-record-growing-oklahoma-sooners-tyler-guyton-231034363/">Oklahoma offensive lineman to be drafted</a> since <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/bill-bedenbaugh-158/">Bill Bedenbaugh</a> took over the position back in 2013, as the former <a href="https://247sports.com/college/stanford/">Stanford</a> transfer accomplished what he set out to do when he joined Oklahoma prior to his final college season. Rouse originally committed to <a href="https://247sports.com/college/nebraska/">Nebraska</a> out of the portal before flipping to Oklahoma, in part because of <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/bill-bedenbaugh-nfl-draft-development-track-record-growing-oklahoma-sooners-tyler-guyton-231034363/">Sooners assistant Bill Bedenbaugh's track record of developing offensive linemen for the NFL.</a>Rouse started every game for the Sooners at left tackle last season and was the team's best all-around offensive lineman throughout the year. A foundational piece of an offensive line that paved the way for the nation's No. 4 scoring offense (41.7 points per game), Rouse finished the as the team's highest-graded offensive lineman, according to Pro Football Focus.Rouse had an overall grade of 72.0 for the season, per PFF. His pass-blocking grade of 83.8 was also tops among OU linemen and ranked 14th among all FBS linemen. He did not allow a sack and gave up only two quarterback hits and four hurries across 453 pass-blocking snaps in what was the best season of his career. He previously allowed 14 sacks, 14 hits and 70 total pressures during his four seasons at Stanford. Rouse's 66.2 run-blocking grade was also best among the Sooners' offensive linemen last season.<a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/draft/_/year/2024">Rouse's rookie contract with the Vikings is expected to be worth $4.2 million over four years, with a signing bonus worth $254,285, according to Spotrac.</a> After officially putting pen to paper and joining the organization, Rouse sat down with members of the media and the Vikings beat to discuss the beginning of his NFL career:OPENING STATEMENT: "First off, this is truly a dream come true," Rouse said. "This opportunity to be able to play in NFL for the Vikings no less. And I just wanted to give a thank you to my mom, Hilary, my aunt, Debbie, my grandmother Laverne, grandma Gigi, they've been my core family. We've experienced some loss over the years with my dad in 2019, lost my grandfather in 2018, my aunt in 2017 and my uncle in 2013. It's been so many emotions going on today and I know they're all looking down, proud of me, being able to one day play in the NFL and now I'm getting drafted by the Vikings. It just this truly just means the world, thank you to the Wilf family, Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] coach O'Connell [Kevin]. I really have no words to describe how I'm feeling right now because I'm so happy and I just can't wait to get to work, the next start the next chapter my life starts now."QUESTION: "Walter, I'm curious about your educational background, you probably had a lot of opportunities outside of football, but you kept going, went to Oklahoma and so forth. I guess what has driven you to want to pursue this as a career, as opposed to all the other things that Stanford could have provided you?"Rouse- "Whenever I'm done with football, I still plan on pursuing all those things. When I first got to Stanford, I wasn't planning on going to the NFL, just doing that to get an education and play football, but especially after my sophomore year, something changed in me where I truly fell in love with the game of football. After that moment, there's nothing I wanted to do but just play in the NFL. It can be a flaw sometimes, but I just, I'm a perfectionist, I want to be the best everything, I want to do everything perfect, I want to do everything right. Leaving Stanford, going to the place like Oklahoma, I knew that's what I needed to do to get to where I am right now, being in front of you guys, having an opportunity to be drafted, to be a better player and that's why I decided to go to Oklahoma to be the best player that I can be. Now with you guys being, you know, the best players that you guys have."QUESTION: "Just curious, you talked about just excitement of coming to Minnesota and being a part of this team. What excites you specifically about kind of the Vikings offense and are you familiar even from afar with some of the other offensive linemen in that room?"Rouse- "I'm really only familiar with Christian Darrisaw and that's kind of from afar. I've watched some of his videos. his film and tape from YouTube. I'm not too familiar with the Vikings offense, but I got to say with the amount of experience I've had with different offensive line coaches, different head coaches, different systems that I don't think I'll have too much of a problem, and I know I'll have the resources like Christian [Darrisaw] there and the offensive line coach, assistant offensive line coaches there to help me along the way, and I really just can't wait to get to work when rookie minicamp starts and minicamp and just getting into playbook and start learning."QUESTION: "Walter how did-- I guess you did some right tackle in the East West Shrine game. I was curious how that went for you and if it's much of an adjustment after playing so much of your career on the left side?"Rouse- "Actually, I did play right tackle for the practices, but in the East West Shrine game, I was at left tackle the whole time. When I did go to right tackle, I think playing at left tackle for all five years and only practicing on that side, it was a little bit of adjustment. But it's nothing that only I can't handle. I've seen myself playing tackle, whether that is on the right or left side, so I'm just excited for the opportunity to play either one here."QUESTION: "How did it sort of come together that you decided to go to Stanford? Obviously, I know the engineering like academics would have played a part in that, but from opposite coasts, from where you're growing up, how did that all come together for you?"Rouse- "Well, like I said, I've been wanting to go to Stanford since before I got into football. I was in middle school, looking at all the Stanford Admit videos on YouTube, looking at the campus, and I was like, this is the place I want to go to. When I started getting into football and realized that I was good enough that I could get an education or get a scholarship to get an education, I was like, then Stanford would be the perfect place for me to go. Once I got the Stanford offer, it was kind of a done deal saying, okay, I'm going to Stanford, that's where I want to go. Before I got to Stanford, I wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon and specialize in pediatrics. I don't exactly want to do that anymore. I still want to go into medicine, but do more work with engineering, combined with my major, biomechanical engineering. But that's how I've been wanting to go to Stanford for as long as I can remember."QUESTION: "When you were at the Sidwell School, were you in the same class as Sasha Obama?"Rouse- "Yes, we graduated together."QUESTION: "So, what was that like having Secret Service all over campus?"Rouse- "Well, you know, it's an adjustment, you know, you'll get used to it. I mean before long It's just like, okay, they're just a part of your daily life. Sasha had about two secret servicemen follow her around where she went. I know that sounds crazy when you're walking past, they're just standing outside the door or when she's arriving in like a four or five car caravan. You got bombs nicking dogs every now and then coming out. It became normal for us and especially getting to high school, it was not too bad. I mean, it did come with its perks. You know, we did go on a class trip to China or Beijing and some of us went, Shasha was one of them. We had a whole hotel for it to ourselves, ate by ourselves, we had early access to these things. It never came as benefits, but it wasn't that bad. They're very nice, you even got to know some of them as well, so after a while, it just became everyday life."QUESTION: "You started thanking your mom and talking about your grandmother. Can you just how much they've, I guess, impacted, or helped you in this journey?"Rouse- "Oh yeah, I just, you know, they've really done so much for me, especially my mom, from, obviously for as long as I can remember, she's been with me since the beginning, obviously. But I mean, I can remember just from going to the park late at night, back when I was still trying to go to basketball, when the lights would go out, she would turn the car lights on while I'm just getting up hoops and it's 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock at night. To help drive me to school at 6 a.m. in the morning, to making sure that I was I always had a meal in front of me, driving me to practice, doing AAU, doing classes, being able to find a way to pay for these medical camps that I went to during the summer she just she truly did everything that needed to be done and just to have this moment, especially for her to know that all of your hard work has paid off. Without you, I wouldn't be right here at all. There's, you know, there's, that's a fact without her, I wouldn't be sitting here speaking to you guys right now. Just the rest of my family from my grandmother Laverne, who's in Memphis right now, my grandma Gigi, who's able to come here today, to my aunt Debbie who was really our core family and of course my cousin Cody as well. We used to have a large family and then it just felt like after we lost someone, we got closer and closer together. It was a team effort getting to this point and they poured all their hard work into me and that's how I'm able to sit here in front of you guys and it just truly means the world."QUESTION: "Well, Walter, I was curious about the basketball background. Notice that you had a higher vertical than most left tackles, too. I wonder how that helped you when it came to football and playing in a position that does require a lot of agility. How did basketball kind of help you with that?"Rouse- "For a tackle to have great feet, and being able to move well, I think that's very important, and I think I&nbsp; got that from basketball. Doing AAU since I was in elementary school and having that background, when I finally got to football, a lot of stuff just kind of came naturally to me, it was easier for me to learn. Basketball was a huge help for me, I was jump roping every day, I was getting up in the mornings, getting shots up, doing conditioning. I think that's what helped me, to have that nice vertical and being able to stay conditioned when we do our runs in college for strength and conditioning. You know, I wasn't, the Michael Jordan type, LeBron James type guy, I was more of a Dennis Rodman, got the rebounds boxed you out. But you know, I knew my role. That's what my senior year, we won the championship. We beat two National ranked teams and I was, I'm 6'6". I was the tallest person on my team, and I was like center&nbsp; /forward. I had to go up against two 6'10" twins in the championship game. I fouled both of them out, they couldn't do anything against me. Being able to have that basketball background really helped me with football. Oh, and I will say, why I thought I was going to college for basketball and going to the NBA for basketball was really my dad's side. My grandfather, who I'm named after Walter Victor Rouse, made the winning shot in the 1963 NCAA championship for Loyola. So, I was like, I'm living through him, I'm going to be the next Walter Victor Rouse. But my calling was football. So, you know, I made that choice."QUESTION: "Walter, if you don't mind me asking, you had mentioned losing your father and I noticed on your Instagram, you have a few different hosts with him. Just how, you know, was he able to impact your journey? And how do you kind of carry his legacy forward on this next step?"Rouse- "I think about him every day. I can't believe that he's not here with me, but one of the things that we bonded over is when I was younger, I couldn't read well, I was falling behind in class, and he introduced me to comic books and superheroes. We started reading comic books together to really improve my reading and it did. The first one was Spider-Man. And that was, you know, really the first time we truly bonded when I was younger. And from then on, whether it came to, you know, basketball or something else, it just, you know, our relationship just grew more and more and more. Regardless of if I was the worst player on the basketball team or what not, he would tell the world on Facebook, his friends, his fraternity brothers, that his sons, going to be the best player here. He's going to be in the top 50 here. He could go on and on about me. I wish he could see this moment, me getting drafted because I know he wouldn't know what to do with himself. We had the best banter, we could joke, I could joke with him like I couldn't joke with anybody else. He was the best dad in the world and I'm truly thankful that I had 18 great years with him. And I know, he still impacts me to this day. I know he's looking down on me right now, talking with you guys, just proud. I know he's telling everyone up there, look at my son, look at him, just got drafted, look at him, look at him go. I can't wait to run on that field for that first game. I'm gonna run that field with him in my heart as long as everyone else along with everyone else that had led me to&nbsp; this point, and I just know he's looking down proud of me."</div></body>

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Everything he said: Oklahoma offensive tackle Walter Rouse talks being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings

Former offensive tackle for the Oklahoma Sooners, Walter Rouse, talks being picked by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2024 NFL Draft. When the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft came around on Saturday afternoon, former Oklahoma offensive tackle Walter Rouse was the first off the board. The Minnesota Vikings took Rouse with the first pick in the sixth round, selecting him 177th overall.

Everything he said: Oklahoma offensive tackle Walter Rouse talks being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings

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