Deone Walker details pivotal conversation with Mark Stoops about both returning to Kentucky

Freedom of movement is as common as ever in collegiate sports. That’s the case whether you’re talking about the coaching carousel or the transfer portal. Still, while both could have had interest from elsewhere, two of Kentucky’s most important pieces, Mark Stoops along with DL Deone Walker, decided remain in Lexington.

Walker detailed that dynamic in an interview on ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Friday. He admitted that he wondered about his future following the last Governor’s Cup to end the regular season as Stoops considered leaving for Texas A&M in the hours afterward. However, once his head coach said he’d be back in the bluegrass, he knew that he would be too.

“After our Louisville game, you know, a bunch of that talk was being made. I actually called him, you know. Like, ‘Coach, if you’re going to leave, just tell me. Let me know now,'” Walker recalled. “But he said that he was going to stay loyal to me, stay loyal to the university. So I had to do that for him.”

In a later interview with Staples from SEC Media Days, KSR’s Nick Roush noted how important that was considering how it all played out between Stoops and the Aggies. If he had left for College Station, there’s a solid enough chance that Walker could have been playing his football elsewhere in this upcoming season.

“That’s remarkable,” Roush said. “We knew how tenuous that moment was but he has never gone on record to talk about being tampered with. I’m not surprised, like you said.”

It’s clear why anyone in the country would want a player like Walker. First off, he stands at an incredible 6’8 while being 345 pounds as a defensive lineman. From there, he has the production to match with 95 tackles, 17 of them being for loss, and 8.5 sacks through two seasons at UK.

Even so, Walker remained loyal to Coach Stoops and, as such, Kentucky Football. For him, he didn’t want to play for anyone else considering the man that he is as well.

“It’s great, you know. I wouldn’t have chose anywhere else or anybody else, you know,” Walker said. “Coach Stoops? He’s a great person. He’s family person, you know.”

“He’s not just a great coach. You can tell, like, he has all the right morals too, you know,” said Walker. “He’s a loyalty person and he’s going to reward hard work over everything.”

Kentucky may have been in a far worse spot if Stoops had departed and, in turn, players like Walker did too. Thankfully for Big Blue Nation, though, both will be back at Kroger Field this fall and trying to continue the development of their program this season.