Gavin Walls (born January 29, 1980 in

Ripley, Mississippi Ripley is a city in Tippah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,395 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Tippah County. Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, ...

) is a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player, who most recently played with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He has also played for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

. A defensive end, Walls played collegiate football for the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. Following college, he attended training camp with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

, but was cut before the regular season. In 2004, he was drafted in the fifth round of the

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

draft by the Scottish Claymores. In February 2005, Walls signed with the Blue Bombers and ended up having one of the most successful rookie seasons in team history. He led the team in quarterback sacks with 12, second best that season in the CFL, and was named CFL Rookie of the Year following the 2005 season. He was recognized as CFL Lineman of the Week four times during the season and was selected as a CFL West Division All-Star and a CFLPA All-Star for the season. During the season, he scored two touchdowns, unusual for a defensive lineman. Walls's second season saw a similar level of performance, registering eleven quarterback sacks and earning honours as a CFL East Division All-Star in 2006. In 2007, Walls played a substantial role in leading the Blue Bombers to the

95th Grey Cup The 95th Grey Cup was held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre on November 25, 2007. The Grey Cup, first awarded in 1909, is the championship game of the Canadian Football League. It was played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg ...

, which they lost to the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

, 23-19. Walls was signed to a new contract by the Blue and Gold heading into the 2009 season. He is regarded as the best in the league at the strong-side defensive end position, and his new contract reflects that. On February 26, 2010 Gavin was traded to the Montreal Alouettes in exchange for non-import defensive end Stan Van Sichem. Gavin is working with troubled youth to make his adopted city of Winnipeg a better place to live. He is currently the General Manager at the Moosehorn Co-Op in Moosehorn, MB. He treats his co workers like teammates with the utmost respect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walls, Gavin 1980 births Living people American football defensive linemen Arkansas Razorbacks football players Montreal Alouettes players People from Ripley, Mississippi Scottish Claymores players University of Arkansas alumni Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners