FLOWERY BRANCH — The Jaguars are banking a lot on Georgia-grown talents. One year after taking Cartersville native and former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the top selection, the Jaguars drafted former Bulldogs edge rusher and Thomaston native Travon Walker No. 1 overall in April.
There must be plenty of pressure on these Georgia boys, right?
“There’s no pressure at all,” Walker said Thursday after the Jaguars and Falcons finished their second joint practice. “It’s a game we’ve been playing since we were 7 years old. I’ll just try to continue doing what I’ve done my whole life.”
Walker was considered a surprise pick after the Jaguars were linked to other players throughout the noisy pre-draft process. But Walker revealed during Georgia’s Pro Day he had dinner with team representatives the previous night which, in hindsight, was a strong hint.
Just as the draft approached, Vegas oddsmakers anointed Walker the favorite to go No. 1 after Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson had been the longtime betting favorite. By the time Jacksonville was on the clock, it was clear Walker would be its selection. The Jaguars bet on him becoming the best player from the 2022 NFL draft.
Here’s why: Walker was perhaps the most physically gifted player on an all-time defense, one that helped end Georgia’s four-decade title drought. He’s a supreme athlete, running a 4.51 40-yard dash at 6-foot-5 and 272 pounds. Coaches and teammates endorsed his leadership ability, as well.
“He loves ball,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said Thursday. “He wants to be on the field. He loves practicing and being around his teammates. His athleticism, who he is as a person, a hard worker. Those are the things we felt like, in the pre-draft process, that’s spot on. We’ve just been excited with him.”
Walker is, as former Georgia teammate Channing Tindall once called him, a “freak of nature.” But the production didn’t match the physical testing. He recorded only 9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss in his college career, which Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart explained was a result of Walker’s versatile role within his system.
“He didn’t just line up and rush on the edge,” Smart said during Georgia’s Pro Day. “There are several NFL scouts that say, ‘Hey, you just line him up at outside ‘backer and let him set an edge; he’s going to be tremendous at that.’ He’s really strong, he’s really fast. But that’s not what we asked him to do. We asked him to do a lot of different things. His value comes in workouts. He’s a freak. He’s got a lot of length. He’s an incredible athlete, and he’s going to be a high draft pick.”
Because the Bulldogs deployed Walker in such a manner, he was advertised as a do-it-all defensive weapon. During pre-draft interviews, he sold himself as an asset in pass rushing and dropping back in coverage. He explained his skill set as one that “helps contribute to winning a championship in the league.”
The Jaguars, an organization with one winning season since 2008, hope Walker keys their turnaround. He’s already showed promise, logging a sack and another quarterback hit in his preseason debut and forcing a fumble in his second contest. Pederson said Walker has handled his hefty expectations “extremely well.”
Few prospects entered the NFL more pro ready than Georgia’s batch. The title-winning Bulldogs were stocked with premier talent, with Walker the first of a modern-record 15 draftees in the 2022 class. Smart’s practices, given the players and intensity, somewhat resembled those of the pros.
“Coming from Georgia to the NFL definitely made it a lot easier, going against a lot of the good guys at Georgia,” Walker said. Comparing the practices, he added: “It’s different. The NFL, a lot of teams try to preserve everybody. It’s a longer season. You have to take those things into account. Coming from college ball to the NFL, there’s a big difference in practice structure.”
One promising area in Jacksonville is the edge rush, where 2019 first-round pick Josh Allen, a Kentucky product, has established himself as a building block. The Jaguars are banking on Allen, 25, and Walker, 21, serving as bookends for their pass rush for the long haul.
That’s a tantalizing duo with the size and athletic ability to torment offenses. As the Jaguars try to finally develop sustainable success, a consistent pass rush would completely alter their defensive outlook. Allen and Walker create the vision for Jacksonville’s next playoff-worthy defense.
“We can be as great as we want to be,” Walker said of the pairing. “The sky is the limit for us. We’re going to continue to work, and we’re striving to be the best in the league.”
As for what Walker is learning from Allen, who has 20.5 sacks in 40 games: “The thing about Josh, he’s one of those guys that if he’s implementing something to his game – watching extra film or working on a different move to throw offensive linemen (off) – every time he’s trying to learn something new, he calls me or shoots me a text like, ‘I’m trying to work on this. You can implement this into your game if you want to.’ He’s one of those guys who’s giving me information, and it’s up to me to take that information and try to use it.”
If Walker maximizes those learning opportunities and harnesses his attributes, he’ll be the next Pro Bowl Georgia defender. And he probably won’t be the only one from the 2022 draft class.
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