Kentucky, Michigan pushing for 4-star DL Deone Walker

As of right now, it’s a two-program race for one of the premier linemen in all of high school football. Deone Walker, a four-star class of 2022 prospect from Detroit, MI, is being heavily recruited by the in-state Michigan Wolverines and the Kentucky Wildcats.

It hasn’t been all that rare for Michigan and Kentucky to go head-to-head in recruiting battles over the last few years, but the stakes have been raised a bit this time around.

Former UK defensive backs coach and ace recruiter, Steve Clinkscale, accepted a job at the same position with UM back in May. Before moving states, Clink was the lead recruiter for convincing Walker to make Lexington his new home. Once he joined the Michigan staff, Clink wasted no time putting the pressure on talking Walker into Ann Arbor.

Since then, the overwhelming favorite to land Walker has been Michigan. Eight Crystal Ball picks from 247Sports and seven more FutureCast selections from Rivals have the 6-foot-6, 350-pounder committing to the Wolverines.

But over the last couple of months, the momentum has seemingly died off a bit. Kentucky, led by new offensive line coach Eric Wolford, has quickly picked up where Clink left off in Lexington. Now, Walker is hearing from the ‘Cats more than any other school after him–and there sure are a bunch.

“UK they’ve been keeping in touch with me a lot,” Walker told KSR on Tuesday. “I’d say they talk to me the most, or it’s either them or Michigan.”

Walker has a top-five that consists of Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Georgia, and Alabama. He was in Lexington over the weekend for Kentucky’s massive upset win over then-No. 10 Florida, where he rushed the field and said he was on the edge of his seat the entire night. Walker was also in Ann Arbor for Michigan’s Week 2, 31-10, win over Washington on Sept. 11.

Kentucky I’m here!!! @UKFootball pic.twitter.com/zNxCLi3n4d

— 51 (@deonewalker51) October 2, 2021

Considering he didn’t get to make a trip to Lexington over the summer, Walker had full intentions to make the visit during the football season. He and his head coach at Cass Technical (MI) had been talking about coming to the Florida game for well over a week.

Walker isn’t done traveling yet though. He told KSR that he’ll be in Missouri this weekend for the Tigers matchup against North Texas. After that, he says that official visits to both Michigan and Alabama are on the table this season. But most importantly, Walker is expecting to take an official visit to Kentucky the weekend of Dec. 11.

Coach Wolford has been the lead recruiter since Clink’s departure, but it’s been a group effort from the UK coaching staff with Walker.

“Really it’s been a combination,” Walker said about who’s recruiting him at UK. “It’s more so been Coach Wolford but Coach (Anwar) Stewart stepped in a lot, Coach (Mark) Stoops been talking to me a lot.“

Walker actually joked that the transition with the people recruiting him at Kentucky has been so seamless that he’s had to remind himself a couple of times that Clink is at Michigan now.

The upcoming official visits for Walker are going to be critical, and it would be a great chance for Kentucky if they can get him on campus again. Alabama’s pitch has been that he can play on either the offensive or defensive line. Nick Saban will surely make Walker think a little bit harder about his decision.

Kentucky will pitch (and has been) early playing time and the family environment for a still-rising program. Michigan and Georgia are both 5-0 and ranked in the top 10. The competition level for the Kentucky staff is about as tough as it can get.

Walker is currently eyeing a commitment decision for November, but quickly added that he still intends to take his visits after the fact. That could mean good news for Kentucky if he pulls the trigger on Michigan before taking his official visit to Lexington in December.