Justin Walterscheid was and up-and-comer in the mortgage business. He was making a lot of money, had been selected salesman of the month and seemed to have a promising future.

But he wasn’t happy.

This fall, Walterscheid won’t be making as much money as he was and he’ll be working more hours, but he’ll be doing it with a smile on his face.

The 1999 Grand Junction High School graduate is headed to Ogden, Utah, in a couple of weeks to begin a new career — coach.

Walterscheid will be a volunteer assistant football coach at Weber State University, working under his former college coach , Ron McBride.

“I’m excited,” Walterscheid said. “I knew once I got this opportunity, this was something I was made to do.”

Football has always been in Walterscheid’s blood.

His father, Lenny, played for the Chicago Bears, and Justin grew up with the game.

“He’s a football junkie,” said McBride, who saw that in Walterscheid when he recruited him to play in 1999 for the University of Utah.

Walterscheid didn’t take the smoothest path through college, but that may have prepared him for the challenges he now faces as a coach.

When he arrived on Utah’s campus, Walterscheid, a wide receiver, knew he wouldn’t get much playing time, not with current Carolina Panthers wide-out Steve Smith ahead of him on the depth chart.

Walterscheid chose to grayshirt his first year at Utah, sitting out the fall semester and enrolling in school during the spring. He spent his fall lifting weights and helping with the Grand Junction High School team.

“I figured I’m (wasn’t) going to hurt myself by getting stronger,” he said.

It was during the spring when Walterscheid realized the negative attention Division I athletes receive. He was associated with a few players who entered a girls dormitory on Utah’s campus who were arrested.

Two players were released from the team; the charges against Walterscheid were dropped.

“I wasn’t used to that (attention) coming out of high school,” he said.

But he learned a quick lesson, which he’s in position to pass along to the Weber State players.

As a college athlete, “You can’t mess up,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure you hang with the right crowd.”

Once he joined the team, Walterscheid found himself behind Smith, an eventual All Pro, so he took his redshirt year the next season.

After Smith graduated, Walterscheid got his chance. He was a vital part of the receivers rotation during his first two seasons after his redshirt year.

McBride eventually took an offer in 2002 at the University of Kentucky. One of his assistants, Gary Anderson, had just been selected as the coach at Southern Utah University, Lenny Walterscheid’s alma mater. Justin followed Anderson to Cedar City.

The Thunderbirds had gone 1-10 the previous season, but Walterscheid helped the team to an 8-3 record.

He played two years for the Thunderbirds, but in his final season, he broke his right arm during the first game. After missing three games, he cut off the cast on his arm and played the rest of the season with the injury.

After the football season, with two classes to go before graduating, Walterscheid put his academics on hold to train in Arizona for the NFL Combine.

He gained 20 pounds and lost 7 percent body fat, but still wasn’t selected in that 2004 draft.

“I was so discouraged,” he said.

The Broncos invited him for a tryout three weeks after the draft. That was the year the Broncos signed Jerry Rice as a free agent.

“There wasn’t room for me,” Walterscheid realized.

Returning to Scottsdale, Ariz., he was working at a night club when he answered a call for tryouts with the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. He was signed, but the indoor game was disillusioning.

“It was such a different game,” he said. “It was like playing football on a basketball court.”

Walterscheid’s strength was his deep speed, something he that didn’t work well on the 50-yard field.

He considered NFL Europe, but he also realized it might be time to look at what the next chapter in his life might be.

He was hired by Countrywide Loans for its Scottsdale office. He made good money in the six months he worked selling mortgages.

But his thoughts still wandered back to the football field.

“Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with football,” he said.

His girlfriend (now his wife, Shawna) and his parents both noticed there was an emptiness in him.

“You don’t seem happy,” Shawna told him.

“What am I doing?” he wondered.

He moved back to Grand Junction in August, intent on finishing his degree. He also started making phone calls.

He wanted to work at the Division I level, but nothing was open. On a whim, Walterscheid called McBride, who had taken over at Weber State.

McBride called him last spring, saying he had an opening for a volunteer assistant defensive coach.

Walterscheid has an offensive mind, but he figured the switch to defense would work well.

He’s already gotten a taste of one aspect of coaching. While watching his brother, Daniel, play at Grand Junction last fall, he noticed a receiver and defensive back who didn’t seem to be catching anyone else’s eye.

Walterscheid was impressed with Danny Feild, who hadn’t received a college offer and was planning on attending Colorado State University as a walk-on.

Walterscheid convinced McBride and Feild that Weber State would be a good fit.

Walterscheid got more good news last week when his brother announced he would attend Weber State.

Walterscheid realizes he’s going to be making a mere pittance of what he did in the mortgage business. He’ll also be putting in 80- to 90-hours each week.

“Money is important, but it’s not as important to me as what I’m doing,” he said.

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E-mail Kent Mincer at kmincer@gjds.com.