Billy Walton III still remembers how difficult it was to dial Greg Richmond's number and deliver the news.
In June 2022, Walton was a three-star defensive end at South Oak Cliff (Texas) High School and an Oklahoma State commit. But a visit to Texas changed his mind, and by the end of the month, he decided to switch from becoming a Cowboy to a Longhorn.
That meant picking up the phone and calling then-OSU defensive line coach Greg Richmond.
"He was like, 'Hello, my big dawg. This one hurts.' I remember the conversation," Walton said. "I was like, 'Dawg, that's tough.' It was definitely a hard talk, but I feel like he respected me more because I actually called him and told him instead of texting him or things like that."
Walton couldn't have guessed where their roads would go from there.
He ended up transferring from Texas and exploring other options, while Richmond was fired after the 2022 season and spent time coaching at Sam Houston and North Texas. Four years later, fate has Walton at OSU finally, with Richmond also back as his defensive line coach.
"I feel like it definitely is a full circle moment," Walton said.
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Oklahoma State defensive end Billy Walton III said finally coming to OSU and playing for defensive line coach Greg Richmond felt like "it was meant to be."
Walton redshirted his freshman season at Texas, appearing in two games. After the season, he transferred to SMU, where he appeared in 22 games and made 17 tackles and two sacks across two seasons.
During those times, Richmond was a defensive ends coach for now-OSU coach Eric Morris. Walton never looked at rejoining Richmond during those years, but he said Richmond didn't waiver on recruiting him.
And after his first three years of college hadn't gone quite as planned, Walton reevaluated.
"I definitely came to Texas thinking I was gonna be this, gonna be that. I figured I wasn't, so I ended up transferring. It was kind of the same thing there (at SMU). I was still young, and then eventually I found my feet, and that's why my second year at SMU, I did better," Walton said.
"I was getting in rotation a little bit, and then eventually I was like, 'OK, I think I'm ready to take that step to get back to where I was.'"
Walton entered the portal this past offseason and, again, Richmond was there – and back at OSU as the defensive line coach with Morris. He couldn't say no again.
So, Walton got to make another call to Richmond four years later, but this time it was more pleasant than the first.
"I called him like, 'Yeah, Coach, I think this is definitely (the place).' I got (offers from) other schools, but I'm like, 'Nah. I want to go with G-Rich,'" Walton said. "Because I feel like if he still wants to talk to me after all these years, after all these letdowns that I have, like, 'OK, I'm not coming to Sam Houston. I'm not coming over there. I'm not coming to UNT.' And then he comes here, and eventually I'm like, 'OK, this has got to be meant to be,' because this guy has been steady after me my whole career. Literally my whole career."
It felt meant to be for more reasons than that. Walton is cousins with former OSU cornerbacks AJ Green, who played from 2016-19 and was a team captain, and Jabbar Muhammad , who broke out at OSU from 2020-22 before playing on College Football Playoff teams at Oregon and Washington.
That connection helped put OSU in his top three coming out of high school – along with Texas and SMU.
"And I ended up going to literally every spot. And then now I'm here, and I'm here to stay," Walton said. "But I feel like it's definitely a full-circle moment. I always loved OSU."
Now, Walton wants to make the most of his time at OSU. Morris has called the defensive ends group one of the deepest on the team, and the 6-foot-3, 253-pound Walton will be in that mix.
"Billy's a guy I think can play both sides for us. I think the versatility of Billy is huge," Morris said. "There's some guys – Jaleel (Johnson) is mainly gonna be an end, Malik Charles mainly gonna be an end, and that's kinda their skillset. Billy's a guy that we can rotate and flip-flop from end and rush.
"And the one thing I've probably been the most surprised about Billy is his value on special teams right now. He's a guy that you'll see run out there and play a couple different positions in special teams as a starter for us right now. I think just anytime you get those big, long, athletic guys that process information fast, Billy fits in that category."
Walton said special teams is the "way to go" for many late-round or undrafted NFL players, and he's learned to embrace that part of the game and doing whatever his team needs him to do.
His mindset has changed since those days when he was coming out of high school, and he just wants to take advantage of the opportunities he's given.
"I think going through my college career from Texas, SMU to here, it helped me understand that you have to leave your ego where it is in high school," Walton said. "You can't bring ego to college because that's what I did. I'm not gonna lie."
Learning that brought him back to where he originally committed, to a coach he couldn't turn down anymore, at place he watched his cousins win at.
"I came here younger, watching their games, so I always wanted to come here," Walton said. "But then things happened, of course, but it doesn't matter no more because now I'm here."
