Wide Receiver
No. 85
California
"Does things in a big way. He led AFC receivers last year as a rookie with 21.1 yards per catch. Todd's 87-yard touchdown pass to Walker was the second longest in the conference.
Walker is a big-play performer. He set an NCAA record for average career receptions (25.7) at California, set a Pacific-8 record with 289 yards receiving in one game and set a Cal record with an 88-yard touchdown catch. A five-yard reception is out of the question for Walker.
Born in San Bernadino, California, he ran four years of track at Cal, timed once at 10.4 in the 100-meter dash. Walker was Cal's first four-year, double-sport letterman since before World War II. The Jets were able to draft him in the second round and have been grinning ever since."
-Dave Newhouse, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1978 Edition)
"One of the finest rookies in pro football last season, Wesley was rewarded for his outstanding performance with selection on the NFL's All-Rookie Team. An exciting deep threat, his longest reception of the campaign went for 87 yards.
Wesley holds the NCAA mark with a 25.7 career average per reception. His 88-yard touchdown catch against Georgia in 1976 was the longest in California history."
-1978 Topps No. 327
WESLEY WALKER: SECOND HALF OF THE JETS' BOMB SQUAD
Around Shea Stadium, The Todd-Walker Connection Has Stirred Up Memories Of Namath-Maynard
"If it weren't for the green helmets and spiffy new uniforms the New York Jets are wearing, their fans might have thought for a moment they were living in the past.
Richard Todd and Wesley Walker were so impressive in the Jets' early season games they couldn't help but remember the great Namath-to-Maynard passing combination.
Todd and Walker gave notice to NFL foes early with touchdown passes of 47 and 43 yards and saw a third called back due to a holding penalty in the season opener against Miami. In all, Walker caught four passes for 108 yards, an average of 27 yards a catch, and he represents a major headache for Jets' opponents this season.
While he and Todd have shown the potential that could develop into the Namath-Maynard of the 1980s in New York, Walker acknowledges it's a little early to put them in the same class.
Wesley had some trouble holding on to passes in his rookie season a year ago, but that doesn't stop the comparisons.
'I remember when they said that Don Maynard was a pass-dropper,' says Jets head coach Walt Michaels.
Using that to link the two is stretching the point, but the second-year receiver from California has demonstrated the ability to get open deep- no easy task with today's sophisticated defenses.
Last year he was named to the National Football League's and Football Digest's All-Rookie teams after leading the entire league in average yards per catch (21.1).
Many a hot-shot young receiver will brag about his speed or natural talent as the reason for his success. Walker gives much of the credit to Jets receiving coach Dan Henning.
'I think the big reason I'm getting open as well as I have is that I'm very well coached,' the modest 23-year-old says.
'When I first came to the Jets I didn't necessarily agree with some of the things they were teaching. I was used to just running straight up and down patterns.
'We have things we do here to make the defensive backs react a certain way ... I come off the ball at different angles or approach a defensive back to turn him in a different direction.'
The moves combine with 4.4 to 4.5 speed (in the 40-yard dash) to make Walker a constant deep threat.
Walker feels his problems with catching the ball last year were just a matter of concentration. Three times he dropped passes in the end zone when open.
'I'd catch the ball over the middle where you have to be concentrating,' he says. 'But I'd get out there (open) waiting on the ball and I could see the ball coming down and I could see the defensive back coming and I'd be ready to take off before I had it. It would go right through.
'I didn't know what the problem was because I never had the problem in college,' he adds.
'You can be running down the field and you can think you have it, it's an easy catch, that's when it goes through your hands. So you've got to watch it all the time.'
Walker feels improved concentration and being more familiar with the pro game this year will help erase the problem. He worked on it this off-season with another University of California product.
'During the off-season I got the opportunity to throw with Fred Besana (cut this year by Buffalo). He helped me a lot by being out there to throw. You need a quarterback in the off-season to throw with to get your timing and work on different things,' he says.
The NFL's new one-chuck rule was expected to help receivers like Walker, and many feel he benefited from it as much as anyone.
'I don't think it has made that much difference because it depends on the type of defense,' he explains. 'Most of the time people are running a zone so they are not using it (the bump). They are just dropping back.'
He said he also feels that officials aren't really calling it, although anyone who has witnessed all the illegal chuck calls in the Buffalo games might disagree.
Whether it's called or not, Walker is going to catch his share of bombs this year. He did it last year.
Michaels doesn't hedge on his praise for the young receiver. 'For a second-year player at his position, he's as good as anyone ever,' the coach says.
The California native's success is remarkable when you consider he is legally blind in his left eye because of a cataract he has had since birth. He said doctors were going to operate when he was 14, but didn't and the feeling is now it wouldn't have helped anyway.
'Everyone is like a blur when I close my right eye,' he says, adding that he could manage to walk around like that, but certainly wouldn't be able to drive a car or play football.
With both eyes open, it obviously isn't a major handicap on the field. 'I still have good peripheral vision,' he notes.
With that plus his speed, moves and determination to hold the ball, Jet opponents better have plenty of eyes on him this year."
-Mike Dodd, The Buffalo Evening News (Football Digest, December 1978)
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