All Sooners

Oklahoma Transfer OT Walter Rouse Discusses Stanford, Pac-12 Situation: 'It's Just Sad'

Rouse said he's played in and won Pac-12 After Dark games and feels the sport is losing something with the coming dissolution of the league.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma Transfer OT Walter Rouse Discusses Stanford, Pac-12 Situation: 'It's Just Sad'
Oklahoma Transfer OT Walter Rouse Discusses Stanford, Pac-12 Situation: 'It's Just Sad' /
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NORMAN — The college football world has never seen anything quite like it.

The Pac-12 Conference disintegrated late last week, and in the fallout of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado joining the Big 12 Conference and Washington and Oregon joining the Big Ten Conference, a couple of academic and athletic bastions — Stanford and Cal — have been left out, stuck with Washington State and Oregon State in what’s now being called the Pac-4, and without a definitive future beyond 2023.

Oklahoma senior offensive tackle Walter Rouse was a four-year starter at Stanford as the Cardinal’s left tackle, and after practice with his new team on Monday, AllSooners asked Rouse for his reaction to his old team, his alma mater and his former conference.

Walter Rouse (75)
Walter Rouse (75) / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

“I think it’s unfortunate, what’s going on. Because,” Rouse said. Despite (the fact) I left ther Pac-12, I think it’s a great conference. I think it’s just sad that such rivalries — it’s not gonna be the same. Pac-12 After Dark — that’s a real thing. I used to watch that growing up, and then I was a part of it. I won some games in Pac-12 After Dark. Some of those traditions and what not, it’s just not gonna be the same. And I really hope that they can figure stuff out.”

Stanford is without a feasible conference. Maybe the Cardinal go independent. Maybe they and the others left behind merge with the Mountain West and try to elevate their membership back to the Power 5 level. Or maybe they drop down to FCS in football only.

Whatever path his former school takes, Rouse is keenly aware of the hardships that like ahead for many of his former fellow Stanford athletes.

“That stuff is year round,” he said. “You’ve got people going from East Coast to West Coast and thinking about school and what not, so really paying attention to how it’s gonna affect other athletes. It’s exciting, but at the same time, like damn — excuse my language, sorry — like dang, what’s gonna happen with other athletes and what not?”

Rouse said he’s been busy getting healthy from offseason shoulder surgery and learning a new playbook at OU, but he’s found time to stay in touch a little with a few of his old teammates.

“I’ve been talking to ‘em a little bit. Not too much,” he said. “I was thinking about reaching out today. We have like a group chat — we have like a chess group chat and we have an o-line group chat from last year with some of the guys who are still at Stanford — and they’re like ‘We can only focus on right now.’ So that’s all they can focus on. I wish them the best of luck though.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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