Mark Stoops removes Deone Walker from weekend scrimmage due disruptive on-field play

Deone Walker should be a force as a sophomore on Kentucky’s defensive line in 2023. Things are trending so much so in that direction that his own head coach is even having to get tricky when scheming against the 6’6, almost 350-pound force.

Mark Stoops spoke with the media on Saturday after the Wildcats scrimmaged again ahead of the season. Within the first five minutes, Walker walked behind the scrum which, at that point, Stoops pointed him out. He then noted that he actually had to remove Walker from the team’s scrimmage because he was causing that many problems for the offense.

“There’s big Deone over there. Deone, I had to throw you out of the scrimmage today so we could get a play off!,” Stoops shouted. “He’s been a force. He’s hard to deal with.”

Walker posted 40 tackles, a pair of past deflections, a sack, and a forced fumble as a freshman last fall.

As impactful as he was last season, he has become one of Kentucky’s most highly-touted prospects. The question now is how does the staff mold him into becoming as good as they think he can be?

“(Walker) can be as good as he wants to be. Like, he can be as dominant a D-lineman as there is in this league. And really in this country,” Brad White said on KSR at Kentucky’s Media Day earlier on in fall camp. “There are a lot of talented guys. But you have to have the discipline to take that thing to the next level. And that’s what we’ve preached to Deone.”

“I think and I hope that (Walker) is taking that to heart and he’s ready to push,” White said. “As soon as you get comfortable, as soon as you get complacent? You get passed up. Somebody else comes along. And unless you do something just crazy extraordinary to where you become a legend? You’re just a good player that was there.”

Walker, in size and with his play, makes an impression and has continued to do so in his short time in Lexington. It sounds like that’s the case considering Stoops’ previous comments about him from practice as well as his apparent dominance this weekend. Now, as he heads into his second season, Kentucky is hoping that he’ll cause their opponents just as many issues as he has caused them over the course of fall camp.