The “secret” is now officially out.
In very early August of last year, Walter Brady was dismissed from the Missouri football program for what was described as violations of unspecified team rules. Unbeknownst to most, the defensive end found a new collegiate home shortly thereafter.
In a story posted to their official website Tuesday night, Middle Tennessee State revealed that Brady had transferred to the school last September from Mizzou; his addition to the roster had not previously been announced As Brady sat out the 2016 season while enrolled in classes at MTSU, he’ll be eligible to play in 2017 as a redshirt junior.
Brady had actually committed to MTSU and head coach Rick Stockstill while in high school before flipping to Mizzou.
“For Coach Stock to find me and offer me a chance to come here under his mentorship and under his coaching staff and to be able to build myself as a man and athletically, it meant a lot,” Brady told the team’s site. “It showed the coaching staff believes in me.
“It was a rough transition at first, but I finally got settled in towards the end of last semester. It’s like being home – MTSU and I have a lot of history. The coaches jab at me every now and then about not coming here in the first place. But it’s a blessing to be here now.”
After redshirting in 2014, Brady started nine games at end as a redshirt freshman the following season. His seven sacks were tops among all freshman nationally, while his 12.5 tackles for loss were tops amongst that class in the SEC.
For that, he earned consensus Freshman All-American honors.