Penn State's Rasheed Walker looks forward to 'Champions Week' game against Illinois

Penn State offensive tackle Rasheed Walker isn’t overly concerned with his team’s losing record.

Or even the potential of going to a bowl game this winter.

He’s just happy to be playing, considering the Big Ten nearly canceled the 2020-21 campaign because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m just thankful for every opportunity that I had to play football,” Walker said during a video conference with media on Tuesday. “I’m just focused on today. I’m just excited to be able to go out today and practice. Because I know at one point, no one knew if we were going to be able to play this season. So I’m just thankful to be able to just play one game this season. Anything else is a bonus for me.”

Saturday’s home game against Illinois (3-5) could be termed as a bonus for Penn State (3-5), in what the Big Ten has dubbed “Champions Week.”

The game was not formally announced until Sunday afternoon, but Penn State players and staff appeared to know beforehand.

“After (Saturday’s home game against Michigan State), we didn’t know for sure who we were playing. … (Team staffers) had film up on Sunday morning as soon as I woke up,” said Walker (6-foot-6, 310 pounds), a redshirt sophomore. “So it was kind of normal. I probably woke up around 9 (a.m.) Sunday morning and the Illinois film was up. We had team meetings the normal way. So it was all kind of the same.”

Walker will enter the contest having been selected to the Big Ten’s third team as determined by conference media. He received that honor Tuesday.

“For the season, honestly, I think had a pretty solid season,” Walker said. “We had a new offensive coordinator and a new offensive line coach. I had to do some stuff differently. But I feel like I put together a strong season even through the new scheme and techniques I had to adjust to. But it’s always good to work on something to improve on.”

Walker and the rest of Penn State’s offensive linemen entered the season with the challenge of working under a new offensive coordinator in Kirk Ciarrocca as well as a new offensive line coach in Phil Trautwein. The difficulty of those transitions was amplified by the lack of spring practices because of the pandemic.

A native of Waldorf, Md., Walker credited Trautwein with refining the technical aspects of the offensive line’s play.

“Before coach (Trautwein), I felt we were like, as an offensive line, we were doing more area blocking and position blocking,” Walker said. “But now, coach (Trautwein), he’ s kind of taught us to block more aggressively. He emphasizes little mechanics, the small important mechanics that you need to have good technique to efficiently move someone from point A to B. It was like awesome he was teaching us all those new mechanics that would help us.”

“He first got here around (February), we got to work with him a little bit. But due to covid, we didn’t get that much time to work with him. Throughout the summer and the season, there’s been a whole lot of learning. Week by week, the offensive line has been able to demonstrate that we’ve been getting better as far as our techniques and mechanics on film. I don’t want to say it’s a huge difference, but the little bit of difference is a big difference, if that makes sense.”

Given the chaotic nature of the season for all college football teams, there are virtually no requirements for going to a bowl game. While a number of teams have already indicated they will not accept invitations, Penn State has not announced its decision.

Having enjoyed simply being able to play this season, Walker wouldn’t mind one more game.

“I’m with whatever my brothers are with,” Walker said. “If we want to play, I’m playing.”