William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
HEIGHT: 6’6″
WEIGHT: 313
HAND: 10⅛”
ARM: 35⅛”
WINGSPAN: 83¾”
40-YARD DASH: 5.25
3-CONE: 7.89
SHUTTLE: 4.83
VERTICAL: 33″
BROAD: 9’2″
POSITIVES
— Highly experienced with a lunchpail mentality, sturdy build and excellent length.
— Can strike, widen and press high-side rushes around the corner on quick-hitting passes.
— Has solid play strength and leg drive to wash defenders out on angle-drive blocks.
— Solid stopping power to grind down the bull rush in his anchor.
NEGATIVES
— Struggles mightily to redirect, change directions and mirror when being set up with stutters, hesitations and tempo.
— Stiff lower half with middling agility leaves him overextended and off balance too often.
2023 STATISTICS
— 13 starts at left tackle
NOTES
— Born March 9, 2001
— 3-star recruit from the 2019 class, per 247Sports
— Team captain in football and basketball in high school while also competing in track and field with a second-place finish in the state championship in the discus.
— Started for four years at Stanford before transferring to Oklahoma for the 2023 season
— Missed only two games after suffering a torn labrum in Week 4 of the 2022 season
— 52 career starts at left tackle
— Played in the East-West Shrine Bowl
OVERALL
Walter Rouse is a five-year starter with 52 career starts at left tackle, including 13 starts last season in Oklahoma’s 54-46 run-pass split, RPO-heavy, multiple run scheme centered around zone and counter concepts. Rouse has a sturdy, well-rounded build with excellent length, marginal athletic ability and solid play strength.
Rouse wins as a run-blocker on kick-out, down and drive blocks where he can establish first meaningful contact before running his feet and driving his hips through contact to create lateral displacement. He will struggle to adjust to post-snap movement across his face and slippery defenders due to significant lower-half stiffness that leaves him overextending with his feet stuck.
In pass protection, Rouse is a chore to work through with power, and he can strike, press and keep high-side rushes at his fingertips on quick-hitting passes. But his mirror and sustain skills are lacking primarily due to the stiffness that saps his recovery ability.
Overall, Rouse has the size, length, smarts and play strength to work himself into a swing tackle in the NFL. However, he has a hard cap on his ceiling due to his marginal movement and recovery skills.
GRADE: 5.7 (Backup/Draftable — 6th-7th Rounds)
OVERALL RANK: 213
POSITION RANK: OT15
PRO COMPARISON: Vederian Lowe
