2 days ago
Offensive lineman Walter Young Bear looks to honor heritage after transferring to WVU
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia offensive lineman Walter Young Bear walked on to Tulsa, meaning he had to pay the $69,266 each year. Young Bear went to his grandmother to borrow the money.
Football wasn't a well-known sport in his family. Young Bear comes from the Native American tribes Kiowa, Comanche, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara in Oklahoma. His Native American name is Say Tay Oy Day, or meaning Heap O Bears. Most of his family members were actually basketball players.
'A bunch of Indians are big basketball players,' Young Bear said. 'Not too many Indian football players. My grandma was very supportive.'
Young Bear was taking a big risk playing football, but the pressure pushed him to earn a scholarship.
'Pressure builds diamonds,' Young Bear said. 'Under pressure from that moment, and what I wanted to do, what the scholarship meant to my family, and how it would honor them, and how it would glorify God, that definitely pushed me. Even after I got the scholarship, there was still work to do and glorify God.'
Young Bear didn't see much action in his first year. In year two, he finally played some snaps, mostly on special teams. After playing 11 games last year at left guard, he wanted to move up to a bigger conference and entered the transfer portal. The portal process can be chaotic, but Young Bear had some help.
Former West Virginia player Ryan Stanchek and former WVU coach Greg Frey coached Young Bear and knew Rich Rodriguez was returning to Morgantown. The two recommended Young Bear look into WVU as a possible landing spot. Young Bear's first game was also against Rodriguez's led Jacksonville State, so the writing was on the wall.
'A lot of the time in the world, it's about who can you really trust?' Young Bear said. 'Everybody's trying to sell you something, but you don't really know until you actually get there. I was sold partially because I had two former coaches who told me what West Virginia is going to be.'
Young Bear transferred in December and has already started to make an impact. Offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. said the linemen are swapping around, but Young Bear said he's primarily been playing left guard for Rodriguez, looking to start once again.
The biggest adjustment for most offensive linemen is adjusting to Rodriguez's tempo because it's a lot of movement for the big fellas. However, the tempo was similar to the offenses Young Bear played under at Tulsa, so it hasn't been too big of an adjustment.
'I'm used to a high-tempo offense, but even this offense is super high tempo,' Young Bear said. 'But all the conditioning we do with coach Mike, and our O-line coaches. They do a good job.'
Young Bear has a couple of goals he wants to accomplish for the 2025 season. The two biggest are personal to him, tying into his Native American roots. Young Bear keeps his roots pretty private and hasn't shown off any of his traditional dances to the team because he said he feels awkward performing them.
'My two goals playing this sport are one to glorify God, and then I do want to honor my tribe and my family,' Young Bear said. 'My tribe's been there most of the time when I was growing up. My grandpa was the chairman. He was a treasurer for 40-plus years. I'm really close with my tribe.'
His team's goal is pretty simple. It's not winning the Big 12 or a national championship. In his four years at Tulsa, he never had a winning record, so that's all he's shooting for in 2025.
'All I want to do is see how far we can go, because unfortunately, I've never had a winning record in college, and I believe we can,' Young Bear said. 'I think our chemistry is very good, and I just can't wait.'
