IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Even though Ohio State will have two new starting offensive tackles this fall, Walker won't see the field for any meaningful playing time during his first season in Columbus. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that he needs some time to develop, both physically and with this technique.
Walker recognizes that and has no problem with waiting for his opportunity to play.
“Right now, I just need to learn everything,” Walker said. “The tackles that they have now are phenomenal, and they've been here for a little while, some of them. So they know things better. And honestly, right now, just learning in practice from them has been great. Just watching them do what they do and just trying to pick up cues on how to be better and how to fit in well. That's all I've been doing.”
Frye and company want Walker, who is currently 285 pounds, to continue to bulk up to 310-315 pounds. Luckily for him, he got a head start on that as an early enrollee, allowing him to go through a full offseason with Mickey Marotti as well as spring practices.
“It's definitely gonna take some work to get there. But I'm ready for it,” Walker said. “Right now, it's just getting stronger lifting, eating a lot.”
Even so, expect Walker to redshirt his freshman season this fall.
LONG-TERM IMPACT
Although he is the lowest-ranked signee in Ohio State’s 2023 class, Walker has shown the potential to develop into a reliable starting offensive tackle down the road. While he’s unlikely to play much in his first couple of years as a Buckeye, it wouldn't be surprising to see Walker outperform his recruiting ranking eventually.
"On the field, he’s extremely athletic, he has really good hips and he can bend," McGillicuddy said. "He gets off the ball quickly and has heavy hands so when he punches people, you can hear it across the field. Like I said, the athleticism is through the roof. He’ll rarely make the same mistake twice, he hates it when he makes the same mistake twice. The will to want to be good and do everything the right way is what’s going to help set him up to be very successful."
Walker’s size, tenacity and quick hands give him upside that Ohio State believes will make him a Buckeye-caliber tackle in the long run.
“You look at his length and his athleticism and his size, he's going to start (his Ohio State career) at tackle,” Ryan Day said. “He brings a lot of potential there.”
Given the lack of experience at tackle following the departures of Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones, Walker could earn a spot on the two-deep as a redshirt freshman in 2024. Then again, there's a chance that all of the scholarship tackles currently on the roster – Josh Fryar, Josh Simmons, Tegra Tshabola, Zen Michalski, George Fitzpatrick, Luke Montgomery and Grant Toutant – return in 2024.
If that's the case, Walker’s best chance to earn a spot on Ohio State’s two-deep might not come until 2025, when he’ll also be looking to prove he’s ready for a starting job.
