Tennessee football: Georgia Tech transfer DB’s commitment offsets the loss of Theo Jackson

A big reason not to worry about Josh Heupel and Tennessee football having a top 10 recruiting class for 2022 was because of the amount of returning talent. He is destined for a great team this year, which will help his 2023 class, and his main focus just needed to be on offsetting the few losses he had, largely via the transfer portal.

Well, he’s just offset a huge loss with a new transfer defensive back. The Vols added Wesley Walker from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Standing at 6’1″ 204 pounds, Walker actually hails from Nashville, Tenn., and went to Ensworth High School.

After redshirting in 2019 as a freshman, Walker will actually have three years of eligibility left despite already being in college for three years given the 2020 COVID eligibility ruling. He announced his decision to join Tennessee football Sunday morning on Twitter, two weeks after announcing he had entered the portal.

Walker’s years is enough of a reason for him to be a plus, as he’s like another recruit. However, what’s more crucial is his experience. Defensive back is a position of concern for the Vols with Alontae Taylor and Theo Jackson gone, and Walker’s experience is mostly playing nickel.

In fact, Walker started five games at nickel in 2020 and then eight of 10 games there in 2021. Over the past two years at the position, he has registered 92 tackles, two tackles for a loss, six pass deflections, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

Given Tennessee football’s situation, an extra nickel was always needed. Even if Brandon Turnage steps in and fills Jackson’s role, Josh Heupel and Tim Banks needed to go two-deep there. Adding Walker allows them to do just that. However, this also means even more.

The Music City Bowl loss to the Purdue Boilermakers showed the Vols may need an extra cornerback beyond Kamal Hadden and Warren Burrell, not just for depth but to just upgrade that situation. Walker’s arrival allows Banks and Willie Martinez another option to move over there between him and Turnage now.

Simply put, Walker could offset one of two big losses in the secondary, as he could help offset the loss of Taylor. We saw how badly the Vols needed Taylor in their bowl game, so adding somebody like Walker is exactly what they need. At worst, more depth is added, but at best, a necessary upgrade was just made.

We should also tout Heupel’s recruiting with this pickup. Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt both targeted Walker, but he committed to Geoff Collins in his first year at Georgia Tech instead. For Heupel to land him over those two guys, especially when they had a better recruiting reputation, is a big deal.

No matter what happens, Tennessee football addressed a need with a guy who has experience and a future at this level given his years of eligibility left. He’s also the stepbrother of UT edge rusher Tyler Baron, according to Patrick Brown of GoVols247.