In the end, Cohl Walla’s choice was an easy one.

Believe it or not, the choice had nothing to do with football.

The Lake Travis outfielder, entering his senior season, committed to Texas Thursday with Longhorn associate head coach Tommy Harmon. Harmon took Walla and his family around the Texas campus, touring all the facilities that would be a part of life as a Longhorn baseball player. Then, he sat down with Walla and asked the same question he asks every potential player – do you want to be a Longhorn.

At that point, it was a no-brainer for Walla.

“I’ve always wanted to be a Longhorn,” he said. “As far back as I can remember.”

There were a number of schools interested in bringing Walla in to patrol their outfields, including all of the big baseball names – LSU, Cal Sate Fullerton and Miami. There wasn’t an outfield in America that wasn’t willing to make room for him.

“At first it was exciting,” Walla said of the recruiting process. “But after the first week or so, it started to get old.”

The first decision he made was to stay in the state of Texas.

“I really wanted to stay closer to home,” he said.

So that cut his options to Baylor and Texas, and the burnt orange had the edge.
He then went about making phone calls to every school that was interested, telling them one-by-one that he was headed to Texas.

“That was really annoying, but it’s something you’ve got to do,” Walla said.

While Walla was busy trying to make the biggest decision of his life, focusing on the sport that’s been his unequivocal favorite since the age of three, there were more people in Lake Travis that were debating whether he’d show up on the football field for the first day of practice. But like choosing Texas, the decision to stop playing football wasn’t hard.

“I think it’s a little crazy how seriously people took it,” Walla said of quitting football. “It’s just high school football, and it’s not like I was going to play anywhere after college. Baseball means everything to me, and it was time to focus on preparing to play in college.”

Not only that, but the outside possibility that with a little added weight and a good senior season, he could be looking at potentially being drafted in the high rounds of the Major League Baseball amateur draft, just like 2008 teammate Brad Dydalewicz. It’s something Walla would definitely consider, if the offer was right.

“I’d have to think about it, but it’d have to be a lot,” he said. “I want to go to college to play baseball.”

As for the team he won’t be suiting up for this fall? He’s pretty confident in its ability.

“They’ll be fine,” he said. “They’ve got Cade [McCrary], and they’re going to have a good year.”

With an empty fall slate, Walla will focus on gaining weight and adding some muscle to his wiry frame before baseball season rolls around, and will start working with a trainer to see if it makes a difference. He admits it’s not going to be easy, though.

“It doesn’t matter how much I eat,” he laughed. “The only time I gain weight is when I grow another inch, and that doesn’t really help the problem.”

Maybe now that he has a little less to worry about, it won’t be so hard.

He joins an impressive group of Longhorn commits out of Lake Travis in the last two years, including Chance Ruffin (baseball), Garrett Gilbert (football), Paden Kelley (football) and Adam Wennerstrom (golf).