<sod>In November 2010, Walkup committed to play college basketball at [[Stephen F. Austin State University]] for the [[Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball|Lumberjacks]]. He chose the school because he aspired to compete in the [[NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|NCAA Division I Tournament]] and they ran a successful program.<ref name=commit/> [[Houston Baptist Huskies men's basketball|Houston Baptist]] was the only other school that offered him a scholarship.<ref name=unsung/> Walkup later said, "There was a reason I didn’t have any other scholarship offers besides those two—I wasn't any good."<ref name="unsung">{{cite web|last1=Johnson|first1=Chris|title=Unsung Thomas Walkup helping put Stephen F. Austin on the map|url=http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/03/19/ncaa-tournament-stephen-f-austin-west-virginia-thomas-walkup|website=[[Sports Illustrated]]|accessdate=March 20, 2016}}</ref> His father commented on Walkup's recruitment, "I'm sure scouts looked at him and said, 'Well, he's a 6-4 white guy and he can't shoot and he plays the four. And we don't need that.'"<ref name="doingitall">{{cite web|last1=Russo|first1=Ralph D.|title=Doing it all: Versatile Walkup, Stephen F. Austin face Irish|url=http://news.yahoo.com/doing-versatile-walkup-stephen-f-austin-face-irish-212141404--spt.html|website=[[Yahoo! Sports]]|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|accessdate=March 20, 2016}}</ref><eod>
<sod>In November 2010, Walkup committed to play college basketball at [[Stephen F. Austin State University]] for the [[Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball|Lumberjacks]]. He chose the school because he aspired to compete in the [[NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|NCAA Division I Tournament]] and they ran a successful program.<ref name=commit/> [[Houston Baptist Huskies men's basketball|Houston Baptist]] was the only other school that offered him a scholarship.<ref name=unsung/> Walkup later said, "There was a reason I didn’t have any other scholarship offers besides those two—I wasn't any good."<ref name="unsung">{{cite web|last1=Johnson|first1=Chris|title=Unsung Thomas Walkup helping put Stephen F. Austin on the map|url=http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/03/19/ncaa-tournament-stephen-f-austin-west-virginia-thomas-walkup|website=[[Sports Illustrated]]|accessdate=March 20, 2016}}</ref> His father commented on Walkup's recruitment, "I'm sure scouts looked at him and said, 'Well, he's a 6–4 white guy and he can't shoot and he plays the four. And we don't need that.'"<ref name="doingitall">{{cite web|last1=Russo|first1=Ralph D.|title=Doing it all: Versatile Walkup, Stephen F. Austin face Irish|url=http://news.yahoo.com/doing-versatile-walkup-stephen-f-austin-face-irish-212141404--spt.html|website=[[Yahoo! Sports]]|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|accessdate=March 20, 2016}}</ref><eod>