Hawaii football commit, triple jump state champ Jalen Walthall is counting his blessings
HONOLULU (BVM) – The world recently saw the difference between elite football speed, and elite track and field speed thanks to DK Metcalf. The Seattle Seahawks star wide receiver competed at the USA Track and Field Golden Games on May 9, and although the 6-foot-4 freak athlete with a 4.33 40-yard dash turned in a respectable time, he didn’t stand much of a chance.
Metcalf’s time of 10.37 in the 100-meter race earned him a last-place finish in his heat among nine runners. The experience also brought him a newfound level of respect for track and field athletes.
“These are world-class athletes,” Metcalf said during the broadcast on NBC streaming service Peacock. “It’s very different from football speed, from what I just realized.”
Some sports pundits will use Metcalf’s dive into the track and field realm as an example of why football players should stay on the gridiron. They will be wrong, and Jalen Walthall just showed the state of Texas why.
The Manvel High School (Texas) senior is a three-star prospect committed to play football at the University of Hawaii, but Walthall isn’t dominant in just one sport. At the Texas state track and field meet on May 7, Walthall won gold in the 5A triple jump with a leap of 50 feet, 4 inches.
5A TRIPLE JUMP STATE CHAMPION❗️50.40 🥇 @coach_herzog pic.twitter.com/LruevnCHTf
— Jwalt (@JalenWalthall) May 7, 2021
The crazy part? Walthall began triple jumping four weeks before becoming a state champion in the event.
“It was exciting, especially for it to be my first year,” Walthall said of his triple jump state championship. “I thank God for my athletic abilities.”
Walthall’s feat – something athletes who practice triple jump for years will never attain – becomes even more impressive when you consider it was attained out of pure boredom.
“It was my last year, senior year,” Walthall said of his motivation to take up track and field. “I’ve always been active so I just couldn’t sit in the house and do nothing; I had to do something. Track was the only thing going on.”
I’m so proud of @JalenWalthall. 5A State Champion Triple Jump. @HawaiiFootball got them a 50 footer. pic.twitter.com/P9RAqqAXZX
— Cameron Herzog (@coach_herzog) May 7, 2021
Like Metcalf, Walthall requires constant attention on the football field, too, due to his elite playmaking ability on the perimeter.
The 6-foot-1 wideout accounted for a combined 25 receiving touchdowns during his final two seasons at Manvel. Walthall’s 1,660 receiving yards over that span would be even more inflated if the Mavericks didn’t utilize a run-heavy scheme.
Despite not being the focal point of Manvel’s offense, Walthall still made his presence felt. The senior racked up a season-high 215 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a November win over Fort Bend Hightower and kicked it up even another notch for the playoffs with consecutive 100-yard performances. It was 112 yards and a touchdown for Walthall in the postseason opener against Dripping Springs, and 123 yards to go along with another score in the regional semifinals the following week.
https://twitter.com/JalenWalthall/status/1328095680343265281
Despite a sparkling senior campaign and more explosiveness than your typical three-star recruit (evidenced by a gold medal in the triple jump), Walthall didn’t garner the Power 5 interest he deserved. Tulane, Wyoming, in-state Texas Southern and about 10 other mid-major programs extended an offer, but Walthall knows things would’ve gone much differently had a pandemic not swept the world.
“I feel like COVID affected my recruiting in the worst way possible,” Walthall said. “We didn’t get spring ball, 7-on-7s or summer camps. Just nothing at the most crucial time. Scholarship offers were getting taken away and everybody’s in the transfer portal; it was a bad mix.
“I for sure would be at a Power 5 school (if not for COVID-19). But I’m just counting my blessings, I’m happy I have Hawaii and I’m just going to blow up out there.”
Walthall won’t suit up for a Power 5 program in the fall, but he will be where he’s wanted after committing to Hawaii in February.
“They (Hawaii) believed in me from day one,” Walthall said. “They told me and they showed me that they have complete confidence in me coming in and playing.”
The Texas 5A triple jump champion will be joined by five others from the Lone Star State in Hawaii’s 2021 class: Brayden Schager (Highland Park), Ty Marsh (Ryan), Jordan Johnson (Allen), Nate Adams (Flower Mound) and O’Tay Baker (Tyler).
As someone who captured a state title with just four weeks of preparation, Walthall has even loftier expectations for his primary sport.
“I want to leave there (Hawaii) as the receiving leader, the receiving touchdowns leader and if we can bring a Heisman to Hawaii, I want to do that,” Walthall said.
Two on Four they outnumbered 🖤 pic.twitter.com/ERbujEc0oi
— Jwalt (@JalenWalthall) October 24, 2020
