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Carson Walch was a believer almost from the start.

In 2007, Division II Winona State, a small public school in southeast Minnesota, was looking for a new offensive line coach. As the Warriors’ first-year assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and receivers coach, Walch sat in to help interview Jason Eck, a candidate for the gig after spending the last three years at Idaho.

If he wasn’t hired immediately, Walch liked what he heard.

“I knew we had some other guys to interview,” Walch remembered, “but I figured right away, like, there’s no way someone’s gonna come in this room and outduel him.”

Nobody did — and Eck got the job.

What Walch saw in his two seasons working with him only confirmed those initial instincts.

“The culture shift in our offensive line room, that really bled into our entire offense,” he said. “We were a team to be reckoned with up front, and then it just kind of spilled out.”

That type of transformation is a big part of why Walch and Eck — UNM’s second-year head coach — reunited nearly 20 years after that interview. The former was hired as the Lobos’ new offensive passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach in February, replacing former receivers coach Colin Lockett after coaching almost exclusively in the professional ranks for the last 16 years. 

Walch, 48, spent the last five years with the Cleveland Browns, working as the club’s director of offensive skill development from 2023-25. Before that, the Elgin, Minnesota native served as the Philadelphia Eagles’ receivers coach in 2019 in addition to stints with the Chicago Bears and the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes. 

And while it might not make the most sense on paper — how many coaches leave the NFL for a Group of Six position coach role? — Walch said reuniting with one of his “best friends” in the industry has been something he’s talked about with Eck since he first became a head coach.

“Sometimes it wasn’t the moment I wanted to leave the NFL,” he added. “(But) I saw what he was doing with these programs and I’m just like, I want to be a part of it … I talked to some people about, ‘is this the right move? Is it not the right move?’

“And I thought it was best for me professionally to join coach Eck.”

Walch, however, has not been a collegiate position coach since 2009, his last year at Winona State. The biggest adjustment, he said, hasn’t been related to a vastly different era of recruiting, nor has it been anything to do with NIL or revenue sharing, elements that mostly don’t affect his day-to-day work. Instead, it’s a change that’s bedeviled plenty of offensive coaches switching from college to the pro ranks, or vice versa: The difference between the NFL’s on-field hash marks, and how narrow they are compared to college football’s significantly wider markings.

“They’re completely different … In the NFL, you’re almost always playing on the hashes, they’re so much tighter and you can make all the throws around the field,” Walch added. “ … It's starting to become (clearer), and I feel more comfortable now, but I don’t feel like I’ve arrived.”

Since arriving, Walch has been entrusted with a position group that lost its leading receiver in Keagan Johnson, but returns two starters (Shawn Miller and Zhaiel Smith) and added promising transfers in Troy Omeire (UNLV) and Miles Williams (Eastern Washington).

Omeire and Williams will miss all of spring practice with injuries. Smith and fellow returning receiver Kader Diop are also dealing with injuries; it’s unclear when they might return.

“We’re stressing them mentally. We’re stressing them physically. We’re stressing them emotionally,” Walch said. “It’s going to be up and down for a while, until they can have a clear mind. And usually when you have a clear mind, you’re gonna have fast legs.

“It’s a little bit of a roller coaster. We’re just getting through the grind right now.”

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at .