A recurring series where we will profile every player on Maryland's roster, counting down to kick-off against William & Mary on September 1. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile a walk-on defensive lineman whose older brother used to play for Maryland.
Alex Walker, Sophomore (RS), Nose Tackle, #73
via grfx.cstv.com
Stats:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 285
Major: Family Science
Twitter: None that we could find.
Collegiate Stats: One game
High School Stats (Senior Year): None that we could find.
Recruiting Ratings: N/A
High School: Langley
Hometown: McLean, Va.
High School Highlights:
None that we could find.
How'd He Get to College Park?
Walker is the younger brother of former safety/special teams extraordinaire Austin Walker, but was a very good player in his own right at Langley. He was named first team AAA All-Liberty District in 2006 as a D-Lineman (Austin was an honorable mention on the same team), all-region and all-district in 2007, and all-state in 2008. He also threw discus for the school's track team, and went to the state finals in 2008.
Walker redshirted in 2010, which means that the coaches think (or thought, I guess, as it was a different staff) that he has a chance to contribute in his career as a Terp. It's fairly common for walk-ons not to redshirt, so that they can provide some instant depth, but Walker has good size.
Last season, Walker made his collegiate debut, coming off the bench as a defensive lineman against Towson. He did not record any statistics in the game.
Nickname:
Alex "McLean Machine" Walker
Career Highlight:
Playing against Towson last year.
Career Lowlight:
Not recording any statistics in that game.
Dream Season:
Walker miraculously overtakes Darius Kilgo and Nate Clarke as the back-up nose tackle, seeing solid time in relief of A.J. Francis.
Nightmare Season:
Garbage time against William & Mary, and still no statistics.
2012 Prospectus:
Alex Walker is fourth on Maryland's depth chart at the now incredibly important nose tackle position, behind unquestioned starter A.J. Francis, redshirt sophomore Darius Kilgo and sophomore Nate Clarke. While we like to keep the anything-is-possible attitude in regards to Maryland depth charts around here, this is one of those situations where it would be a complete and total surprise to see Walker playing in any game besides Maryland's opener against FCS William & Mary.
With the amount of former defensive tackles that switched to the outside with the new 3-4, it's far more likely that someone like Andre Monroe or Justin Anderson would move back to the inside if Francis or Kilgo got hurt, and there's really no legitimate scenario that could end in Walker seeing real playing time.
That being said, Walker can put himself in a good position for next year. Francis will be graduating, and hopefully on to the NFL. Clarke will be the probable starter, but the Terps don't have any nose tackles coming into the program this year, and so far don't have any for next year either. Kilgo will likely be the back-up, leaving Walker as the de facto third-string nose tackle. Play well enough this season in practice, and he could even beat out one of the two for the back-up spot.
Up Next:
Our next player went to a high school known as one of the most dominant wrestling programs in the state of Maryland, and he was on the team.
ClickClack62 got yesterday's right, and it's now a three-horse race.
Standings:
Maryland1206 - 2
Terpsfinish - 1
ClickClack62
Everybody else - 0