St. Bernard Alums Make Impact for Huskies

Four years ago they were still powering the St. Bernard High School football team to the CIF Southern Section Northwest Division semifinals under then head coach Greg Dixon.

Now, former Vikings Adam Long and Greg Walker are trying to lead the University of Washington to the Pac-12 title. Both players are juniors in the Huskies program, now piloted by former USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

Long is a 5-foot-10, 173-pound cornerback who played in all 13 games for UW last season, primarily on special teams, and served as team captain for the November 6 game at Oregon. He had a season-high three tackles against Arizona and broke up a pass in the end zone in the Huskies' 19-7 victory over Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.

After redshirting his true freshman season in 2008, Long played in the team's last 11 games in 2009 and earned a starting role at cornerback for the final six games, even making eight tackles in his first collegiate start against Arizona State.

As a senior at St. Bernard High, he played both running back and cornerback and rushed for 212 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-45 double-overtime win over Morro Bay in the CIF quarterfinals. He was named to the All-Northwest Division first team that season and Rivals.com ranked him the 50th cornerback in the nation. 

Long, a Los Angeles native, was also a sprinter on the Vikings' track team, taking third in the 200 meters at the state meet his junior year. In 2007 he won Southern Section Division I titles in the 100 and 200 meters.

Like his fellow Vikings alum, Walker played all 13 games last season, mostly on special teams, and he was one of the game captains against Nebraska.

He, too, redshirted his true freshman year, earning the Mark Drennan Defensive Scout Squad Most Valuable Player award at the 2008 team banquet. In 2009 he played in all 12 games at safety and/or special teams and had a season-best four tackles against both Notre Dame and Arizona. 

Like Long, he was a two-way player at St. Bernard, playing running back and linebacker while leading the Vikings to an 8-5 record and a 4-1 mark in the Del Rey league his senior year, when he made 120 tackles, two interceptions and had five sacks while earning All-League, All-Area and All-CIF honors.

Walker was named to the Cal-Hi Sports All-State team and was ranked as the nation's 98th best safety by Scout.com. He earned All-League honors as a junior as well after making 68 tackles. The Bellflower product was also a pitcher and catcher for the St. Bernard baseball team.