This is the 1st in a series profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor, which have been posted every week at baylorbears.com.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            J.D. Walton can joke about it now, but he had the bad fortune to be on three different teams that had success after he left. Instead of success following him, he actually preceded success. 

            "It seems like all the good stuff happened after I left. Maybe I was the problem," said Walton, an All-American and Rimington Trophy finalist at Baylor who went on to play six years in the NFL.

            Part of the Baylor Athletics 2023 Hall of Fame class, Walton was an all-district and all-county lineman at Allen High School, which won five state championships in a 10-year run after he graduated in 2005. The Eagles won four-consecutive state titles after opening an 18,000-seat stadium in 2012. 

            "We made it to the (state) semifinals my junior year and lost to the state champion both of my last two years," Walton said. "We were so close, but we never actually got there. Everyone at the time knew Allen, and everyone still knows Allen. They were the first one to get the big ridiculous stadium, and they earned the right to have all that stuff. So, it was great to see."

            A two-star recruit, Walton initially signed with Arizona State in a 2005 class that included offensive lineman Shawn Lauvao, who played nine years in the NFL; and defensive end Dexter Davis, his roommate in Tempe, who played three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. 

            "I actually had committed to Utah, but I decommitted when Urban Meyer went to Florida," Walton said. "I signed with Arizona State, and there were a bunch of good guys and just a good class, and we were very excited at the time. But I had never been that far away from home and family. I spent a year out there, and it just wasn't a good fit for me."

            Jumping at the chance to come back to Texas, Walton signed with Baylor and had to sit out a year before playing as a sophomore in 2007. A chance visit with then-head coach Guy Morriss "kind of bloomed into something," Walton said. 

            "We were just sitting and talking, and I told him I was transferring from Arizona State," Walton said. "I said I had some film in the truck, if I needed to get it. I was just going to look at the facilities and walk around. But he said, 'Hey, if you can make it here, we'll get you a scholarship and get you going.' It's kind of funny, the guy that had recruited me before said I wasn't big enough to play in the Big 12. It's funny how things come full circle."

            Starting 36-consecutive games at center, he was part of an offensive line that helped pave the way for 2,349 yards rushing in 2008, the Bears' most in 37 years. That included a freshman quarterback named Robert Griffin III, who would win the Heisman Trophy three years later. 

            "You could see the change in our O-linemen we were getting. You could see the change in the linebackers and running backs and the receivers," Walton said. "And then we got Griff, and it was like, 'Oh, this is about to happen. We're about to go to a bowl game for the first time in forever.'''

            But in the third game of Walton's senior season, RG3 suffered a season-ending ACL injury. After a 3-1 start, the Bears won just one of their last eight games and finished 4-8 for the second-straight year. 

            "I remember pulling up to the facility and seeing Griffin get out and crutch over and started crying," Walton said. "And I was like, 'Oh, wow, I guess it is his ACL.' He gave me a big hug and apologized. Shoot, it's not his fault. He's just running around making plays. But that's sport and that's how it rolls. It was on our older guys to get things going, and we just came up a little short."

            Baylor ended a 15-year bowl drought the next season and has gone to 11 bowl games in the last 13 years, winning three conference championships. And like Allen High, the Bears moved into a brand-new home with the opening of McLane Stadium in 2014. 

            Walton, though, earned first-team All-American honors from the Associated Press and was a finalist for the Rimington Trophy that recognizes the nation's top center. 

            "I thank Jason Smith for having the scouts around the year before and looking at other guys and being one of those guys where you kind of got found," Walton said of Smith, who was the No. 2 overall pick by the St. Louis Rams in the 2009 NFL Draft. "And heck, we played against great defensive linemen every stinking weekend."

            In a game against Nebraska, Baylor was able to negate All-American nose tackle Ndamukong Suh by sliding Walton over to double him, but defensive end Jared Crick had four sacks. "So, we had to figure out how the heck to block him."

            Ranked as the best center in the 2010 NFL Draft, Walton was taken by the Denver Broncos in the third round with the 80^th pick overall. 

            "It was all just a whirlwind," said Walton, who played in the Senior Bowl and went through the NFL Combine. "You hear all kinds of stuff, but you don't know until you actually see it come across on the line and hear your name."

            Starting every game in his first two seasons with the Broncos, Walton played all but one snap as a rookie in 2010, when "a guy stepped on my heel and pulled my shoe off."

            When Denver acquired Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning prior to the 2012 season, J.D. started the first four games before suffering a dislocated ankle that "derailed some stuff." Going through three surgeries, he missed the rest of that season and all of 2013 after getting an infection in the ankle before the start of camp. 

            While J.D. would play sparingly the next two years with the Washington Redskins, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers, Manning and the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 with a 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers. 

            "Just some bad luck, but Denver was great. We loved Denver," Walton said. "We try to go back there a couple times a year just to enjoy the weather and meet up with all of our buddies."

            Being a two-star high school recruit, Walton says his NFL playing career was a "dream come true."

            "As a high school kid, you're into your junior when you start seeing signs of, this could actually happen that I get to play college football," he said. "And then, as a lineman, unless you're just a freak, it generally takes you a couple years just to get going because there are grown men down there in the D-line and O-line.

            "I got to my junior year at Baylor, and I saw Smooth (Jason Smith), the way that he did things and the way that he carried himself and his attitude and all that. And you start to think, 'Well, I've got a shot at this, too.' I think the biggest deal was just showing up every day to work. Something that was put in my head early on was to be the same guy every single day."

            Walton said it was "kind of shocking" when he got the call from Walter Abercrombie about being elected to the Hall of Fame. 

            "I thought, maybe, way on down the line," said the 36-year-old Walton. "But heck man, it's awesome that there are enough people that thought highly of me that I was voted in. It's truly an honor, and we're very excited about it."

            Now the offensive line coach at Frisco Centennial High School, J.D. will miss the Titans' final regular-season game to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, in the Cashion Building Banquet Room. 

            "It's unfortunate that I'm going to miss our stinking last freaking game," said Walton, who will be joined by his wife, Katie, and sons, Jase (9) and Kane (3). "I explained to my head coach, 'I'm not sure if this happens a lot, but it's not ever going to happen to me again.' So, I'm going to enjoy it while I can. We are amped-up."

            Walton is joined in the 2023 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame class by fellow football player Ken Quesenberry, track and field's Stan Curry, Tiffany Townsend and Sandy Forsythe Massey, baseball's Max Muncy, Denes Lukacs from men's tennis and longtime Baylor basketball color analyst Pat Nunley. 

            Tickets to the banquet are $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available at the green ($600) and gold ($800) levels, and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu.