The N&O’s JP Giglio tweeted the following today:
N.C. State football coach Tom O’Brien is close to hiring a receivers coach. Troy Walters is the expected choice
This is a link to his current biography.
Troy Walters is in his first season as the wide receivers coach at Texas A&M under head coach Mike Sherman. “I am very fortunate and excited to be able to name Troy Walters as our new wide receivers coach,” Sherman said. “I coached against Troy when he played for both Minnesota and Indianapolis.
It was common knowledge in the NFL among coaches and personnel people that Troy was special. He was never the biggest or fastest, but he still found a way to contribute to a team’s success as evident by his eight successful years of NFL service. His intelligence, character and work ethic were his foundation. Those are the same qualities he will bring to the Aggie football program as a coach and recruiter. “It is well known in NFL circles that Indianapolis wide receivers ran the most disciplined and precise routes in all of football,” Sherman continued. “In his interview, he definitely convinced me that he would bring those same qualities out in his receivers.”
An eight-year NFL veteran and the 1999 Biletnikoff Award winner as the country’s top receiver, Walters comes to A&M after spending the 2009 season at Indiana State, where he was the offensive coordinator and coached wide receivers and quarterbacks. “At Indiana State, Troy worked for Trent Miles who worked for me at Green Bay and for whom I have tremendous respect,” Sherman explained. “Having spent time in the ‘West Coast’ offense in his career, Troy definitely will come in with some accrued knowledge of our system which will help him get off to a faster start as he learns our offense.”
After setting the Stanford and Pac-10 career record for receptions with 244 receptions for 3,986 yards, Walters was drafted in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. In addition to being a receiver, Walters averaged 23.1 yards per kickoff return and 14.5 per punt return his rookie season and saw action in all 12 games for the Vikings. He took his talents to the Indianapolis Colts in 2002 through the 2005 season helping the Colts reach the playoffs every year His top season catching the ball was 2003 when he caught 36 balls for 456 yards and three touchdowns.
In 2005, he set his own personal best game with eight catches for 91 yards and a touchdown against Seattle on Christmas Eve. In 2006 he played with the Arizona Cardinals and then finished his NFL career playing one season with the Detroit Lions in 2007. At each stop, his receiving and return skills were utilized.
He spent the 2008 season trying to catch on with other NFL clubs. As a senior at Stanford, Walters won the 1999 Biletnikoff Award presented to the nation’s top wide receiver. He caught 74 balls for 1,456 yards and 10 touchdowns as he earned consensus All-America honors and was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year. He was also Academic All-Pac 10 as well as Academic All-America, earning his degree in communication in 1999 and a master’s in sociology in 2000. Walters was a second-team All-Greater Houston selection as a wide receiver for A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, earning third-team All-State honors for the Tigers as a senior.
Walters was born Dec. 15, 1976 in Bloomington, Ind. His father, Trent, was an assistant football coach at Indiana, Louisville, Washington, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame as well as serving as a defensive assistant coach at Texas A&M from 1991 through 1993. His father never lost a conference game while coaching with the Aggies and Texas A&M won three consecutive Southwest Conference Championships while compiling an overall mark of 32-5. Troy Walters served as a ball boy during those years. Trent Walters has also coached in the NFL with stops at Cincinnati, Minnesota and Philadelphia.