Ryan Walters, who served as the DC for the Missouri Tigers for five years, was hardly surprised by what signal-caller Drew Lock is currently doing with the Seattle Seahawks.
SEATTLE — From 2015-2018 both Washington Huskies defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock were rooted with the Missouri Tigers.
Walters began with the Tigers as the safeties coach in '15 before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2016. He was promoted to the sole DC in 2018 and continued in that role until 2020.
Lock finished his college career as a two-time All-SEC selection (first-team in 2017, second-team in 2018) and one-time NCAA passing touchdowns leader (44 in '17). He spent his entire career with Missouri before being selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.
Now, Lock is currently keeping the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks, afloat in the absence of starting quarterback Sam Darnold, who's out with a hip injury. Lock is doing so at Lumen Field, just 6.9 miles away from where Walters is calling plays on defense with the Huskies.
Lock has been Seattle's backup quarterback for four of the last five seasons, and has been one of the most dependable second-string signal-callers in the sport over that stretch. He's stepped up under two different Seahawks head coaches, Pete Carroll and Mike Macdonald, and has led the Seahawks to wins.
This season, in two games (one start), Lock has completed 72.9% of his passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns with no turnovers, and Seattle is 2-0 and on top in the NFC West.
As the DC with the Tigers for several seasons while Lock was tearing up Southeastern Conference (SEC) competition, Walters has seen firsthand what the 29-year-old is capable of in practice.
Walters went to Seahawks OTAs a year ago and spoke with Lock for the first time in "a while" and said that while some things changed, such as the quarterback now having a family, a lot of things stayed the same.
"Still got the swagger, still got the big arm," Walters said in a weekly news conference Tuesday.
Walters isn't shocked at all to see Lock have success.
"(I'm not surprised) at all. Not at all," Walters. "If I talked to him, I'd say 'it's about time.' ... Glad he's getting his opportunity and making the most of it."
While Lock is preparing to help his current team go 3-0, Walters and the rest of the defensive staff will be preparing for its Big Ten opener against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 8 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium.
The Gophers' quarterback, junior Drake Lindsey, drew direct comparisons to Lock from Walters.
Luckily, Walters has experience calling a defense against Lock and will likely look to take those experiences into his game plan for Lindsey.
