Zamari Walton feels like a kid again in what will be his one and only Ole Miss season
Zamari Walton is a full-on Ole Miss Rebel now.
Sure, he was, officially, an Ole Miss Rebel when he transferred in from Georgia Tech in the off-season and went through spring practices. He’s held a starting job at cornerback for the Rebels ever since he arrived.
But Saturday was the Rebels’ 2023-24 season opener. They took on Mercer — in a game that was Walton’s first with a team not named Georgia Tech in over four years.
“It was fun. The atmosphere was crazy,” Walton said this week. “The Walk (of Champions) and seeing all the fans, I enjoyed it.
“I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous my first time I went out there because it was just different for me. But after that first play, I felt good. It felt good to be here and playing with my teammates.”
Walton was a four-year starter at cornerback for the Yellowjackets. He only has one year of eligibility remaining, meaning this is his one and only season as a Rebel.
But Walton would have it no other way. He’d pretty much checked all the boxes at Georgia Tech. Walton played in 42 total games and had 123 combined tackles, 17 passes defended, three interceptions, a sack and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown.
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Walton went into the portal on the final day in the spring in search of a new challenge.
The SEC is widely regarded as college football’s biggest stage, and Walton was eager for a turn in the spotlight. He wanted the sport’s highest level of competition.
Ole Miss made sense for myriad reasons. The Rebels lost four corners with real-game experience to the portal, including multi-game starters Miles Battle and Davison Igbinosun. Also, Pete Golding, formerly of Alabama, was hired as defensive coordinator and ran a base defensive system (4-2-5) Walton has been running for most all of his college career.
“I thought, for me, it would be a good change to come to the SEC and play for coach Golding,” Walton said last month. “(Ole Miss) ran the same defense and they had lost a lot of guys. I thought it would be easy to come in and help some of the younger guys and develop and also face an explosive offense.”
So, now that Walton has a game as a Rebel under his belt …?
“I feel comfortable,” he said. “I know the whole defense. Now I’m just playing. I feel like I’m back in high school. I’m good.”
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Walton in his Ole Miss debut finished tied for sixth on the team in tackles (3). Two were solos.
The Rebels allowed a 75-yard quarterback-keeper of a rushing touchdown on their very first play from scrimmage of the season.
However, they dominated the rest of the way. Mercer gained just 160 more yards of offense and failed to reach the Red Zone even once in four quarters.
“Next-play mentality,” Walton said of how Ole Miss rebounded after the first play. “Things happen. From there, good things started to happen.
“More communication, getting adjusted faster and some of the penalties can be taken away, but overall I think we did pretty good. Obviously we could do better, but I think we did a good job for the opening game.”
Up next for Walton and his fellow Rebels is Tulane on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Both teams enter the matchup 1-0 on the young season.
“Explosive offense. Fast. Good quarterback,” Walton said. Walton was among the nation-leading 20 Rebels placed on the Reese’s Senior Bowl preseason watch list.
“(Green Wave QB Michael Pratt) does a good job facilitating. We’ll be well-prepared. I think they’re a pretty good team.”
