Deone Walker has Shown Doubters he can Play Defense

Deone Walker has a mental list of colleges that told him he needed to be an offensive lineman. (UK Athletics Photo)

He was a consensus four-star high school prospect coming out of Detroit, a consensus top 300 player nationally and a top 30 defensive lineman. However, many colleges recruiting Deone Walker wanted him to play on the offensive line, not the defensive line where he preferred.

Kentucky recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow understood Walker could play either spot but also understood Walker wanted to play defense.

“Coach Marrow told me, ‘You come here, you can play what you want to play.’ He just wanted me to know so I would feel like if I came here and decided that I don’t really like the D-line, I could move. He would have felt the same way about me if I had said O-line,” Walker said.

Walker eventually picked Kentucky over Georgia, Alabama, Michigan and a lot of other schools. The likely 2025 NFL first-round draft pick did not keep a written list of schools who told him he could not play in the defensive front but he remembers who they were.

“I got a memory of them now. Not a real list. I got a mental list,” Walker said. “People say what they want to say. It’s all about what you’re gonna do and if you’re gonna make them right or wrong. That was my mentality coming into college. I feel like I’ve made them wrong.”

He has started 26 of 27 games in his two-plus years at Kentucky and led the team in tackles for loss (12.5) quarterback sacks (7.5) and quarterback hurries (8) in 2023.

Defensive line coach Anwar Stewart was also involved in Walker’s recruitment and is one reason the 345-pound Walker never seriously considered entering the transfer portal where lucrative NIL deals likely awaited him.

“He was fighting to get me here and playing D-line when I was deciding O-line or D-line. It was like he just felt me and he’s never eased up on me since I got here,” Walker said. “He knows I love him being like that. He knows that I want to play at the next level, so he’s still on me like a coach should be.”

Walker averaged 56 snaps per game last season, a high volume for a player his size but UK defensive coordinator Brad White knows how much better the defense is with him on the field. Walker knows the big expectations White, UK fans and even NFL personnel have for him and Marrow has said Walker has the talent to be a potential No. 1 overall NFL draft pick.

“I don’t really look at the draft stuff. I feel like there have been a bunch of guys that were supposed to be highly-touted draft picks and then drop to the third or fourth round,” Walker said. “If you look at all that stuff too much it can get in your head too much. I’ve chosen to just not look at it and just play like it’s my first day here.”

But it is his third season, not his first day, at UK and he knows he needs to be an even better leader this year. He’s made a bigger effort to help younger teammates and set an example for everyone on the team.

“All my teammates respect me and what I have to say. I’m not going to steer them the wrong way,” Walker said.  “They know that everything that I say I’m saying to them respectfully and for their greater good and for the greater good of the team.

“I feel like it’s a great feeling to have knowing that every one of my teammates respects me and wants to know what I have to say.”

He also likes that he has so many talented teammates around him this season.

“We got a bunch of guys who can really play,” Walker said. “That was one of my big points of emphasis  as a leader and captain to bring my defensive line together.  I do get double and triple teamed. When my teammates get a one-on-one block, I trust them that they can win that battle.”