Walter Thurmond III
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Walter Thurmond III (born Walter Riley Thurmond III on Aug. 12, 1987 in Hollywood, Calif.) is a cornerback for the University of Oregon Ducks in the NCAA college football tournament. Thurmond emerged last season to become one of the top cover corners in the nation and along with fellow Oregon defensive backs Patrick Chung and Jairus Byrd form one of the deadliest secondary in the west. With his incredible speed (4.59 on the 40), great hands, athletic ability, and tremendous instincts, it's no wonder why he has picked off loads of passes since being named as a starting cornerback his freshman year. Thurmond has also been one of the more solid tacklers among all Oregon defenders as he even finished second on his team overall in that department in 2007.
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[edit] Personal Life
Wally is one of Walter Thurmond Jr. and Kassie Carney's two children, both boys. He majored in political science at the University of Oregon.
[edit] High School
Thurmond was a standout in both track and field and football at West Covina High School in West Covina, California. While competing on the track his senior year, Thurmond had a 14.16 Pasadena Games 110mHH win, and 13.97w league finals performance. He also qualified for the Finals in the Junior Nationals over the 42" 110mHH barriers at 14.65, while placing 8th in the finals at 14.72. During his prep career, he has high jumped 6-08 and had an impressive 15-07 clearance in the post-season Jim Bush Meet at Occidental College.
On the gridiron, Thurmond was able to take advantage of his speed after being utilized by coach Mike Maggione on both ends of the field, garnering All-San Antonio League, All-CIF and All-Valley accolades as a junior after recording 40 receptions for 757 yards and eight touchdowns on offense, as well as 69 tackles (48 unassisted) and four interceptions on defense. The following season, he helped the Bulldogs claim their first Section Football title in 39 years in the CIF Southern Section Div VII, contributing a 69 yard touchdown run in the 19-8 win over rival South Hills in the Championship game enroute to earning the division's Offensive Player of the Year award. He contributed 29 receptions for 730 yards and seven touchdowns in addition to over 400 yards rushing and two scoring runs on offense while producing 85 tackles and five interceptions on defense to help West Covina to an 11-2-1 record. Offensively, he was named All-San Gabriel Valley Region with Division VII All-CIF second-team honors at wide receiver and first-team all-league selection. Defensively, he was named by the Los Angeles Times as the Region “Back of the Year.”
[edit] College
Fellow cornerback Willie Glasper hosted Thurmond on his Oregon visit. He gave his commitment to play for the Ducks on his official visit. Aside from Oregon, other universities that offered him include Boise State, Fresno State, Wyoming and San Diego State.
[edit] 2005
Redshirted. He competed for playing time as a true freshman but was eventually relegated to the scout team. He was cited for his outstanding work on scout team six times, with weekly honors on both defense and special teams while helping the Ducks prepare for the Montana, Stanford, and Houston games.
[edit] 2006
During his redshirt freshman year, Thurmond got the nod to start in one of Oregon's cornerback spots. He made his collegiate debut against Stanford where he tallied five tackles and a pass break-up in the 38-point blow-out. In wins at Fresno State and against Oklahoma, he contributed four and eight tackles, respectively, with a TFL in each game including a 10-yard sack against the Sooners. He only had three solo stops at Arizona State but had two pass deflections in the 48-13 victory to earn his coaches' Defensive Player of the Game recognition. The Ducks suffered their first defeat at the hands of California, with Thurmond contributing six stops. He also turned out an identical 5-tackle, 1-PBU effort in the win over UCLA and in the loss at Washington State. After missing the Portland State game because of injury, he returned for the Washington game but was limited to a season low two tackles in the 34-14 win. At USC, Thurmond tallied his first career interception to go with five unassisted stops as the Ducks succumbed to a 25-point loss to the Trojans. He posted a career high 14 tackles including half-a-sack and a pass break up as Oregon lost by 27 to Arizona. In the regular season finale at Oregon State, Thurmond had six tackles including one for loss in the sorry 28-30 defeat to the Beavers.
Thurmond made his first bowl game appearance at the Las Vegas Bowl and had four stops with a season best four pass break ups in the Ducks' 8-38 loss to BYU. For his performance, he was rewarded with an honorable mention all-conference and third-team Freshman All-American selection after producing 67 total tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, and nine pass break ups.
[edit] 2007
During his sophomore season, Thurmond was the Ducks' second-leading returning tackler. He picked up where he left off and produced nine tackles, including one for a five yard loss, with 1 pass break up in the season-opening victory over Houston. Thurmond and the rest of the Ducks then pounced on a wounded Michigan team, limiting the Wolverines to seven points with Thurmond collecting nine unassisted tackles and a career high five pass break ups. Against Fresno State, Thurmond was all over the place as he intercepted a pass and returned it for 30 yards, recovered a fumble then rushed it for a 25-yard touchdown (first career score), recorded eight tackles, and broke a pass up to help coach Mike Bellotti bag his 100th victory as Oregon coach. He also broke up a pass and score seven stops in the 55-31 dumping of Stanford before turning out a career game with 13 tackles with 2 TFLs and 2 PBUs in Oregon's first loss of the season against Cal. He was limited to four tackles and 1 PBU as Oregon bounced back and trounced Washington State, 53-7 then turned out another double digit game with ten stops and another PBU in the win at Washington.
Against 9th ranked USC, Thurmond helped contain the high-powered Trojan offense with 12 stops including three tackles for losses in the 24-17 win. The Ducks also dismantled the 6th ranked Sun Devils 35-23 with Thurmond contributing six tackles with three pass break ups and an interception which he returned for 14 yards gain. Unfortunately, Oregon stumbled against the lowly Arizona opposition the following week, 24-34, with Thurmond contributing only five stops and 1 PBU. The injury plagued Ducks continued its downward spiral at UCLA with Thurmond tallying a season low four tackles with 1 interception in the shocking shut-out defeat. Against Oregon State, Thurmond blocked a 35-yard field goal attempt, intercepted a pass for a 15-yard return, recorded ten stops, forced a fumble, and returned three kickoffs for 68 yards total gain unfortunately, his all-around performance was not enough as the Ducks fell for the third straight time to the tune of 31-38 in overtime. In his second straight bowl game, Thurmond intercepted a Matt Grothe pass and returned it for a 25-yard TD before finishing the game with six tackles, a TFL, and a pair of PBUs in the convincing 56-21 triumph. He ended the year as the team's second leading tackler with 103 stops including a team best 76 solos, with five interceptions, and team highs of 18 pass break ups and 23 passes defended to earn honorable mention from the league for the second straight year.
[edit] 2008
Thurmond had two stops and a pass break up for the losing Green squad in the annual spring game. He along with teammates Chung and Byrd have been named to the watch list of the Jim Thorpe Award for the nation’s top defensive back.
[edit] Track
Amidst his success on the field, Thurmond is quite an accomplished athlete on the track as well. While redshirting for the football team, he competed in the Pac-10 Championships (15th-prelims, 14.97w, w:2.4) and finished the season with a personal best of 14.29 which ranked 11th in Pac-10 and third among league frosh, and 15th in the West Region and 99th in the NCAA. He also competed indoors and placed fifth in the Mountain Pacific Championships final in personal best (8.15). The following season, he continued to compete for the team despite finally earning playing time on the gridiron. He led the Ducks in high hurdlers indoors (8.04) and ranked second outdoors (14.61). He finished his indoor stint in third place (8.10) while posting a time of 14.71 in the Pac-10 110m hurdles (16th in the Prelims) in the outdoor competition.
[edit] Career Stats
| Kickoff Returns | Fumble Returns | Interceptions | Tackles | Tackle for Loss | Sacks | Misc | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Ret. | Yds | Avg. | TD | Ret./G | Yds./G | FR | Yds | TD | Int | Yds | TD | Int./G | Solo | Asst | Ttl | TPG | TFL | Yds | TFL/G | Sck | Yds | Sck/G | PBU | QBH | FF | K/P Blk |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.08 | 44 | 23 | 67 | 5.58 | 3.5 | 24 | 0.29 | 1.5 | 18 | 0.13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 3 | 66 | 22.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 5.1 | 1 | 25 | 1 | 5 | 84 | 1 | 0.38 | 75 | 28 | 103 | 7.92 | 8.0 | 14 | 0.62 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- Athlon Sports Preseason Third-Team All-Pac-10
- CollegeFootballNews.com Preseason All-Pac-10 First Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #22 Preseason Player in the Pac-10
- Jim Thorpe Award Watch List
- Phil Steele Preseason All-American Third Team
- Phil Steele Preseason All-Pac-10 First Team
[edit] 2007
- All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention
- CollegeFootballNews.com Sophomore All-American Second Team
- Oregon's Defensive Player of the Week (vs. Fresno State, vs. Michigan)
- Phil Steele All-Pac-10 Second Team
- Rivals.com 1st-Team All-Pac-10
[edit] 2006
- All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention
- Oregon's Defensive Player of the Week (vs. Arizona State)
- Rivals.com Second Team Freshman All-America
- Scout.com Freshman All-American Second Team
- The Sporting News Third Team Freshman All-America
- The Sporting News First Team Freshman All-Pac-10
[edit] 2005
- Scout Team Player of the Week (vs. Montana, vs. Stanford)
