Tennessee starting safety Wesley Walker, who was fourth on the team in tackles this season and has played in over 40 games during his time with the Volunteers, has committed to the University of Louisville.
Walker, who used the gateway to access information last month and skipped last week’s Citrus Bowl, paid a formal visit to Louisville this past week. On Monday, he made his commitment public on social media.
The 200-pound, 6-foot-1 Walker began his career at Georgia Tech and is originally from Nashville, Tennessee. Before departing and joining Tennessee before the 2022 season, he appeared in 23 games during his three-year tenure with the Yellowjackets. During his two seasons with the Vols, he participated in 23 games.
Walker will be eligible to play for Louisville for one more season.
Before the regular-season finale versus Vanderbilt, Walker experienced Senior Day. Walker excelled at Nashville’s Ensworth High School. Walker racked up 89 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks, six pass breakups, one interception, and one forced fumble in his two years at Tennessee.
Walker finished the season as the team’s fourth-leading tackler (53 total), and in 10 games—all starts—he contributed 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, two pass breakups, and one forced fumble. Walker was a rotational player in the secondary in 2022 until assuming a starting safety position for the last two games of that campaign. This season, he has started all but the final two games, missing just the games against Georgia and Vanderbilt due to a knee injury sustained against Missouri.
Pro Football Focus rated Walker as the best returning safety in the SEC heading into the 2023 campaign after he finished 2022 with 36 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, four pass breakups, and one interception—which occurred in the Orange Bowl against Clemson.
Walker had nine-tackle games this season against South Carolina and Austin Peay, and he also had two pass breakups against the same team in 2023. With five solo tackles, he contributed to the Vols’ 41-20 victory against the Gamecocks by making many crucial stops on third and fourth down. Walker produced one tackle for loss against Kentucky and 1.5 against Virginia in the season’s opening game.
Walker recorded a season-high eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in a start against Vanderbilt during his rookie campaign at Tennessee in 2022. With an interception, quarterback hit, and pass breakup in the Orange Bowl, he maintained the momentum towards the finish of the season. Walker also contributed significantly to the Vols’ two significant victories, including three tackles for loss in the victory against Kentucky, a fourth-down sack against Pittsburgh, and pass breakups against UT Martin, Alabama, and Georgia.
Walker played in just 13 of the 20 games he started in Atlanta in 2020 and 2021 after serving as a three-game redshirt in his freshman season at Georgia Tech in 2019.
Walker racked up 96 tackles, two tackles for loss, six pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery in 23 ACC games. In 2021, he recorded a career-high 10 tackles against Duke. In that same season, he also forced and recovered a fumble against Northern Illinois, broke up two passes and forced a fumble against Miami, and had two pass breakups against UCF.
Walker, a cornerback in the Class of 2019, was ranked as the 83rd overall and as the 30th best player in Tennessee.
