Von Walker was the epitome of what a walk-on player can be; with only a few leftover letters, his name can be rearranged to spell walk-on. When he arrived in Happy Valley, during the lean years of the early Bill O’Brien days, he was called a run-on.
By his junior season the team called him captain, and he was one of just a handful of Penn State players to ever hold that honor for two years. He was a special teams ace after coming to State College as a running back, then switching to linebacker. In high school Walker played quarterback and defensive back.