LB, Georgia
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 241 lbs
Class: Senior
As a four-star linebacker recruit in 2018, Walker was a coveted prospect. The No. 31 ranked player in the class, he received offers from 18 schools, including Florida, LSU, and Alabama. After initially committing to the Crimson Tide, Walker flipped to his home state Bulldogs. After playing sparingly through his first three seasons, he earned a starting role alongside Nakobe Dean in 2021, helping the team to their first national title since 1980.
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Strengths
One of Walker’s biggest strengths is his mental processing. He reads the game exceptionally well, a fact that is ever more impressive when considering he has just one full season as a starter in his career. He clearly trusts his instincts and his first step is rarely ever wrong. Walker shows good patience too and is not easily taken in by misdirection, showing the discipline to stay assignment sound.
This showed up most notably against the run. Walker is excellent at processing different run concepts and reacting accordingly. He showcases a good understanding of different blocking schemes and is excellent at reading through traffic to locate the ball carrier. His quick footwork also allows him to mirror the running back, putting him in an ideal situation to make plays on the ball.
This awareness, coupled with his quick footwork, allows him to slip through blocks and get to the football in a hurry. He also showcases good hand usage when engaging with opponents at the second level, knowing how to shed his blocker and get to the ball carrier. Walker possesses all of the traits to be a quality run defender from day one in the NFL.
He tops off his game with perhaps the best tackling ability of any linebacker in this year’s class. He takes consistently excellent pursuit angles and is great at locating ball carriers in space. Walker is capable of laying big hits, but also shows great tackling form to bring opponents down when working one-on-one. He was almost perfect during his college career, logging a paltry seven missed tackles on his 138 attempts.
Weaknesses
Walker could certainly stand to improve his ability in coverage. Whilst he has shown some comfort as a zone defender, he remains a work in progress in man coverage. He has a bad habit of getting flat footed at the top of routes, giving up easy separation. This is mainly the result of bad technique and should be correctable with more experience and coaching, but is a concern nonetheless.
There are also some other concerns with Walker. He doesn’t possess elite speed and isn’t overly explosive in short areas. He makes up for this with good processing skills, but there will be concerns about how he translates to the speed of the NFL game. Walker isn’t particularly impactful as a blitzer either lacking the explosiveness or play strength to win one-on-ones consistently.
Bottom Line
Walker is a smart and savvy linebacker who reads the game incredibly well. He might not be elite from a speed or strength standpoint, but he has the instincts and tackling prowess to be a quality starting linebacker at the NFL level.
Ideal role: Middle linebacker in a zone-heavy defense
Round projection: 2nd round
