Virginia Tech pulled a rabbit out of its hat on the recruiting trail Friday afternoon.
The Hokies earned a verbal commitment from J.R. Walker. Leading up to his announcement, the 6-1, 198 pound Clayton HS (Clayton, NC) senior was considered an N.C. State-lean by most recruitniks. Walker, rated a 4-star athlete per the 247Sports Composite (0.8986), visited Virginia Tech for its game against Notre Dame and had an "amazing time".
Walked credited that visit — the game day atmosphere, Tech's coaches, meeting other Tech commitments, and a sit down with Bud Foster — with putting the Hokies in the driver's seat.
Walker told reporters he's a December enrollee who was recruited to play either free or strong safety.
In addition to the Wolfpack, Walker reportedly had offers from North Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson, Duke, Virginia, and Tennessee among other Power Five programs.
Clayton head coach Hunter Jenks believes he has the talent to play at the next-next-level.
"I think he's an NFL player," said Jenks. "As he improves, both physically and from a technique standpoint, he'll play right away at Virginia Tech, and have an impact next fall on Saturdays."
When asked by reporters if he a message for Virginia Tech fans, Walker replied, "You're getting a hard working kid who loves to play the game of football."
Comments
Awesome news for this week! Glad he still enjoyed the game even though it was a loss.
Does losing big games like that impact recruit opinions or is it more atmosphere?
From what I've gathered, individual game results impact recruits far less than they do fans. Generally, recruits want to see an atmosphere and a program that can put them and their future team in the best position to succeed. They know that a lot of the players on the field at the time of their visit will be gone by the time they get serious playing time, so the outcome of the game does not have as much impact as we'd think. Now if the program is losing tons of games and is in an obvious downward spiral, then that's a different story (i.e. UNC)
Awesome, I appreciate the answer!
Glad he's an early enrollee. Only about 2 months of anxious waiting until the steps on campus.
This is great! I know they say he will play right away, but I think we have the talent in front of him to redshirt and hold down the safety spots with Hunter for a solid two years. Having two 6 footers at the safety spot would be sooooo nice.
Jr. Walker... sounds more like a country artist than a football player.
I was thinking defensive lineman.
Yep, sounds like my boy Wheeler Walker Jr.
I was hoping someone would get that reference. Leg!
DROP EM OUT
BIG QUESTION:
Does J.R. have any siblings???
#allthesiblingstoVT
TFW it's Friday afternoon and an elite prospect commits to the Hokies.
Nice! I just saw this kid play in person last Friday because my son goes to his high school. They use him in the wildcat a fair amount. fluid and elusive with the ball. They also have a highly rated Wolfpack recruit so this is a good get. Clayton is just 25 minutes from the NCSU campus.
Not 2021?
Big time recruit commits to VT unexpectedly?
gets me every. damn. time.
Doesn't he know that we are off the rails? Program is in complete disarray. And all the other unrealistic hyperbole? He clearly isn't reading the vent threads. /s
Great get. Welcome to the Hokies J. R.!
Is he 800% committed though?
Even better, 1000%
Couldn't find the original tweet for some reason
I guess I'm just too easy. I'd totally settle for 100%.
You know, because math.
Still, we know what he means.
It looks like the original tweet was deleted.
Am I the only one thinking, "Oh, shit, here we go again..."?
Nope
Why would he delete it though?
It's shaping up to be another decent recruiting class.