ESPN RISE

Spend a week in school and practice football in 90-degree heat or take the week off and spend time with your family at Disney World in Florida?

Seems like an easy decision, and for Deon Walker of Frederick High School (Frederick, Md.), it was. Just probably not the decision most would make.

Frederick's 6-foot-3, 185-pound quarterback and receiver turned down going with his family to Disney World so he could stay and work with the football team.

"Deon stayed here because we had the two league games this week and he knew that [the Chesapeake Passing Jamboree] was an important end-of-the-season activity for us," Frederick coach Vince Ahearn said. "That really is impressive for me. I don't know if I'd do that."

Walker has a history of making positive decisions for the betterment of the team, which is probably one of the reasons the junior is expected to be the Cadets' starting quarterback this season.

When Walker arrived at Frederick as a freshman, all he wanted to do was play football. However, his mother did not allow him to play because of a broken ankle he sustained in eighth grade.

"He wanted to come out so bad. The guy was out here through the entire season watching those guys practice," Ahearn said. "He never put a helmet or shoulder pads on, but he stayed around and did the best he could do to be with the team. That says something about his commitment."

Walker was promoted to the varsity team toward the end of his sophomore season and, by his junior year, was expected to be the team's starting quarterback. An injury after Week 3 kept him out for the year, but judging by his performance at the Nike Baltimore Combine, he is ready to play in 2009.

Walker posted a 32-inch vertical leap and a kneeling power ball toss of 30 feet.

According to Walker, Towson and Rhode Island have shown the most interest in him thus far. Towson is looking at him as a receiver, while Rhode Island likes him as a quarterback.

The junior is attending one-day camps at Maryland, West Virginia, James Madison and Towson over the next two months.

As for his senior year of high school football, Walker has been hard at work learning the offense.

"Last year, I would not have said this [was the strongest part of my game], but reading defenses," Walker said. "The way I'm able to pick out the coverages and knowing where my receivers are going to be and how to pick apart the defense."

"[He's improved] the mental part of the game, making good decisions, because that's what the quarterback does, his decision-making, on every single play," Ahearn said.

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Mike Loveday covers high school sports for ESPNRISE.com. Mike can be reached at Michael.Loveday@espn.com.