That was my attitude as a Dallas Cowboy." When I got that chance again and that guy ran that same route, I followed him all over the field back to the other side of the ball, back into the huddle. That bought me just a little bit more time. My first practice I got cursed out by my coach, and with me coming from an HBCU, this white man with a Southern drawl says 'What's the matter with you, boy?' He goes 'If somebody beats you, you get after him.' I realized the philosophy of what he was doing, to weed out the herd. The best way for them to do that was to be as hard as possible. Even before the veterans got there, they had to whittle us down from 25 players. "The Cowboys secondary was atrocious at the time, and they were bringing in all kinds of players," Walls continued. He just wanted to know that you're good enough to do the job. That was the way he dealt with his players. It's up to you as a player to come in and not screw it up. He's coached against some of the best players in history, so he knows it's tried and true. He had a system, and he had that system since coaching against Jim Brown. "Tom wasn't the most hands-on guy as a coach. "It was really a dream come true," Walls said. Landing with his hometown Cowboys and displaying a hard-nosed attitude and work ethic endeared Walls to Landry, paving the way for his NFL shot. I always thought I had the physical ability and mental acuity to eventually figure out what that guy's weakness is and then shut him down." If I line up against someone one-on-one, I don't give a crap how fast he is, how many touchdowns he's caught, or how many passes he's caught. I'm going to do my best to shut this dude down. I know there's a lot of money in that, I know a lot of people train in that and make a lot of money off those ancillary services to make you run faster and jump higher. I'm of the old-school thought that computers, times and stopwatches do not show what kind of heart or skills any player has. My 40-time was about 4.7 if I'm not mistaken. "It's hard to ignore a player, even though you go to a small school like Grambling State, an HBCU. "I got paid cheap as free agent," Walls told CBS Sports in 2017. However, his on-field accomplishments during his final years of college football became overshadowed by his 40-yard dash time, as his mark of around 4.70 seconds led to him going undrafted. The explosion came in his senior year in 1980 when he led college football with 11 interceptions. His junior year was Walls' first as a starter, but he made a noticeable impact with four interceptions. Walls ended up at Grambling State University, but he didn't receive much playing time in his first two seasons. He played one year of high school football at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, a season he described as "decent," but hardly enough of a pedigree to pop up on many college football recruiting radars in 1976. Walls, a 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist, took the circuitous route to becoming a four-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL in interceptions three times (1981, 19) while playing for Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry. They also had some Hall of Famers and Hall of Fame finalists from decades ago, like wide receiver Drew Pearson, safety Cliff Harris, cornerback Everson Walls, offensive lineman Nate Newton and defensive back Cornell Green. There have been relatively recent contributors like quarterback Tony Romo, wide receiver Miles Austin, wide receiver Cole Beasley, offensive lineman Ronald Leary, safety Barry Church and kicker Dan Bailey. The Dallas Cowboys have long been one of the NFL's best at finding undrafted talent during both the Tom Landry Era (1960-1988) and the Jerry Jones Era (1989-present).
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