Colorado University Athletics
Buffs' Walton Finds His Purpose As Redshirt Freshman
February 13, 2017 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER — While the rest of his teammates board the plane to face their next opponent, Colorado redshirt freshman Dallas Walton has no other choice but to watch from his television screen.
During the preseason, head coach Tad Boyle and Walton were faced with a decision often made in college basketball: whether to redshirt Walton or play him. Redshirt freshman years grant coaches the chance to press the pause button on the field of play. Meanwhile the players are behind the scenes, getting better every day at practice and in the weight room.
The answer was easy for the Walton, who is no foreigner to sitting out. He suffered from two ACL tears in the same knee consecutively, foregoing him to miss his entire junior season at Arvada West High School. Due to those circumstances, the 7-foot center is grateful to reap the benefits a redshirt year has to offer.
"At the time, I was coming off my injuries — two knee surgeries — and we had a lot of big men on the team already," Walton said. "It was the best decision for me to wait a year, get healthier and come back the next year a lot better."
Coming back better from where he already was as a young high school player should be a great asset to the Buffaloes next season. One of the skills he will be bringing off the bench is his ability to shoot from the 3-point line, a bonus for a 7-footer. Walton left Arvada West with a 61 shooting percentage from the field, averaging 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds.
Once the redshirt freshman made the decision, he mentally prepared himself to take on the role. The term "practice makes perfect" turns into a redshirt player's new reality. Every practice was now to be treated as a game.
Although technically Walton isn't on the court playing, he wholeheartedly takes on the team's record as his own.
"I contribute in practice, so if a practice is not as good as it should be then it hurts the team as well," said Walton. "It's my job as a person on the secondary team to challenge everybody and do the best I can."
Good company surrounds Walton. His teammate George King also redshirted during his career for developmental purposes. King reiterated how important practice players like Walton are to the overall success of the program.
"They're just as important as the starting player because the starting player doesn't get better at practice without practice players going hard," King said.
King took on the same practice mentality as Walton when he was in his shoes two seasons ago.
"I was also attacking it. Especially when those guys were coming off the road and I know they were very tired and I had fresh legs," said King, reminiscing back to his days spent as a redshirt. "I was out there trying to kill them all … it made me better and it made them better as well."
When King was asked if he gave Walton any advice on being a redshirt, he was completely confident in his teammate's abilities.
"He's actually taken it really well. I do see him working hard. I do see that he is hungry to get better. So I don't really need to tell him much," said King. "He's been doing really well so I'm proud of Dallas for that."
Although Walton has attacked his redshirt year in a very mature manner, he cannot wait to retire his warm-up clothes in exchange for a game-day Colorado uniform.
"I've been watching for about three years now," Walton said. "I'm just ready to play now. It's getting to that point."
