UK football lingering questions: How good can top NFL draft prospect Deone Walker be?

Each week leading up to the start of Kentucky football preseason camp, the Herald-Leader will take a look at one significant question facing the 2024 Wildcats.

This week, we know Deone Walker is UK’s best NFL draft prospect, but how good can the defensive lineman actually be in 2024?

For the second year in a row, Kentucky elected not to bring its highly touted transfer quarterback as one of three players representing the program at SEC Media Days. But when the Wildcats take the stage at the league’s annual summer showcase event in Dallas next week, Mark Stoops’ best player will be there.

That is junior defensive lineman Deone Walker.

Walker will join seventh-year senior left tackle Marques Cox and fifth-year senior linebacker D’Eryk Jackson in representing UK at SEC Media Days. While Walker is just in his third year on campus he will presumably open 2024 as a team captain for the second consecutive year.

“He is a very strong leader,” Stoops said of Walker during spring practice. “It’s very important to him. Guys respect him because obviously he’s very talented, but he works very hard and it’s important. He’s very much a team guy. You need that in this day and age.”

Early 2025 NFL mock drafts have routinely placed Walker in the first round based on his rare combination of size and athleticism, but there seems to be a general consensus around UK’s practice facility that there is still another level for Walker to reach in college.

Simply repeating his 55 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks from last season would cement Walker’s status as one of the best defensive linemen in the country, but can the 6-foot-6, 348-pound behemoth contend for All-America status?

Where NFL mock drafts project Deone Walker to be picked

If early 2025 mock drafts hold true, Walker will be Kentucky’s fourth first-round pick in the Stoops era.

ESPN draft analysts Matt Miller (No. 21) and Jordan Reid (No. 19) and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler (No. 18) all had Walker as a first-round pick in their first 2025 mock drafts.

“Every time Walker rushes the passer, it feels like the field is tilted, which allows him to charge downhill and run through road blocks,” Brugler wrote.

All four of UK’s first-round draft picks in Stoops’ tenure have played on defense. Those projections would put Walker in the same vicinity that Bud Dupree (No. 22, 2015) and Jamin Davis (No. 19, 2021) were selected.

Walker needs a stellar 2024 season to have a chance of matching Josh Hines-Allen’s No. 7 pick in 2019, but Pro Football Focus already ranks him as the No. 5 prospect in the class.

Three UK defensive linemen have been drafted in the first 10 picks: Art Still (No. 2, 1978), DeWayne Robertson (No. 3, 2003) and Bob Gain (No. 5, 1951).

What’s next for Deone Walker?

Despite the lofty draft hype, Walker is not a finished product.

Reid praised Walker’s pass rush moves in his mock draft but noted Walker’s pad level still needs to improve. During spring practice — Walker was one of several defensive linemen to miss at least part of the spring — his position coach laid out another area for focus.

“I think the big thing is we’ve got to work on his cardio,” defensive line coach Anwar Stewart said. “We’ve got to continue to work on getting his weight down. I would love to get him down to about maybe 325. Continue to get stronger, and continue to use his hands.

“The technique at the next level, you’ve got to be a technician and you’ve got to be mentally tough.”

At his size, Walker is likely to play nose guard in the NFL. He could gain more experience at that position for UK this fall as depth is a concern for the Wildcats there.

Prediction

Kentucky is one of the last two teams to take the stage at SEC Media Days, so it is unlikely the Wildcats will draw a huge crowd of reporters. Still, much of the focus from the media still in Dallas next Thursday afternoon will be pointed at Walker. Expect there to be plenty of references to Hines-Allen’s final season at Kentucky when the prospect of an NFL draft pick helped spur him to national defensive player of the year honors. Walker will likely double down on his post-Gator Bowl promise to take on an even greater leadership role. Everything is in place for an All-America caliber season.

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