Vince Marrow says freshman Deone Walker can "be like Jordan Davis"

Kentucky’s 2022 recruiting class is already making winning plays for the Wildcats early on in the season, but no one on defense is making the Big Blue Nation buzz like Deone Walker.

The 6-foot-6, 330-pound defensive lineman came to Lexington as a four-star recruit out of Detroit (MI) Cass Tech. Walker was considered a top 300 prospect in the country according to the On3 Consensus and helped headline arguably Mark Stoops’s most talented class ever at UK. The true freshman is only 18 years old, but he looks more like a multi-year veteran once he steps on the field — literally and figuratively.

“Just call him a grown you know what man. He’s a grown man,” Kentucky assistant Vince Marrow said on Sunday Morning Sports Talk. “When we recruited Deone, when I go up there and those guys just tell me how great of a player he is but he’s actually a really good young man. I thought Kiyaunta (Goodwin) was huge, I swear I think Deone grew these last three months. Because he looks like he’s about 6-8. I told people, ‘watch out for him, he can be like Jordan Davis‘. He really can… He’s really, really gonna be a force for the next couple of years.”

Comparing anyone to Jordan Davis — an All-American at Georgia turned 2022 NFL Draft first-round pick — can be seen as a bit of a stretch, but Marrow notices something familiar in Walker. The size is already there for the Kentucky freshman and the potential is clear.

More importantly, Walker is producing on the field. He’s up to six total tackles through two games, four of them solo (for reference, Jordan Davis finished his true freshman season at UGA with six solo tackles and 1.5 sacks in 11 games played). Walker recorded two tackles in the 26-16 win over Florida on Saturday, one of which dropped the Gators back for a loss.

It was a hugely important play for the ‘Cats, too. With under five minutes left in regulation, Kentucky leading by seven, and Florida facing a 3rd-and-5, Walker blew a hole in the Florida offensive line and dropped the ball carrier in the backfield for a one-yard loss. Florida failed to complete the ensuing fourth down as UK went on to kick a field goal that would ice the win for good.

“I didn’t even see what happened or how he created it, but I saw him in the backfield,” Stoops said, with a laugh, of Walker on that play. “Big bear hug on him to get him down there… That was big.”

"@deonewalker0 the true freshman from Detroit said NOT ON MY WATCH" 🗣@JoeTessESPN

📺 – @ESPN 📲 – https://t.co/G4ZTknMNuv pic.twitter.com/dc8XASKFjU

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 11, 2022

That’s now two games for Deone Walker in a Kentucky uniform, and two games he’s made the fans and coaches alike wonder just how good the youngster can be.