WATCH: Kenneth Walker III rips off his first NFL touchdown run
Rookie running back Kenneth Walker III made a splash in a big way on Sunday afternoon against the New Orleans Saints. The former Michigan State Spartan scored his first NFL rushing touchdown against the New Orleans Saints by ripping off a critical 69-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. It gave the Seahawks the lead for a brief moment.
Check it out here.
Walker had no problems knifing his way through the Saints defense untouched during his first trip to the end zone as an NFL player. His backfield mate, Rashad Penny, was injured in the third quarter of Sunday’s game. Penny was carted off after suffering a fractured fibula, according to Ian Rapoport. He did not return for the rest of the game. That opened up more opportunities for Walker.
The former Michigan State star racked up 88 rushing yards on eight carries, including the touchdown run above. Today was his best performance of his rookie campaign thus far. He’s just getting warmed up and should be a major force the rest of the way for the Seattle ground attack. Unfortunately, Penny is likely out for the season and Walker should get the majority of the workload in the Seahawks backfield moving forward.
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The Saints ended up winning the game 39-32, thanks to the mind-blowing performance by their tight end, Taysom Hill. Hill had four touchdowns on the afternoon. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Hill became the third player since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger with 100 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, and a passing touchdown in the same game.
Walker had been dealing with an injury of his own early in training camp, which he had to get surgically repaired in the middle of August. The exact type of procedure he had done is a little cloudy, as Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll went back and forth on the wording of it. A day after he had his procedure, Carroll said it did not involve a hernia or core muscle tissue. The gifted tailback was selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft (No. 41 overall selection).
Kenneth Walker III was one of the best running backs in college football during the 2021-2022 season
Walker began his collegiate career at Wake Forest. There, he rushed for 579 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman in 2019 and 579 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2020 as a sophomore. Ahead of his junior year, Walker entered the transfer portal and ended up at Michigan State. With the Spartans, Walker became one of the best offensive players in the nation, rushing for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns, averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
On3’s Jonathan Wagner also contributed to this article.