Tennessee starting safety Wesley Walker, who was fourth on the team in tackles this season and has played in over 40 games during his career with the Volunteers, has committed to the University of Louisville.
Walker, who entered the portal last month and didn’t play in the Citrus Bowl last week, made an official visit to Louisville last week. He announced his commitment Monday on social media.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Walker is a native of Nashville, Tenn., and started his career at Georgia Tech. He played in 23 games over three years for the Yellowjackets before leaving and landing at Tennessee prior to the 2022 season. He played in 23 games for the Vols in his two seasons.
Walker will have one season of eligibility remaining at Louisville.
Walker, who went through Senior Day before the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt, was a standout at Ensworth High School in Nashville. In his two years at Tennessee, Walker totaled 89 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks, six pass breakups, one interception and one forced fumble.
As a senior, Walker was fourth on the team in tackles (53) this season and added 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, two pass breakups and one forced fumble in 10 games, all starts. After he was a rotational player in the secondary in 2022, Walker took over a starting safety spot for the final two games of that season and started all but the final two games of this season, missing the Georgia and Vanderbilt games after suffering a knee injury against Missouri.
Walker was the highest-graded returning safety in the SEC going into the 2023 season according to Pro Football Focus after he had 36 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, four pass breakups and one interception, which came in the Orange Bowl against Clemson, in 2022.
In 2023, Walker had nine-tackle games this season against Kentucky and Missouri, and his two pass breakups this season came against Austin Peay and South Carolina. He made several timely stops on third and fourth down against the Gamecocks, helping the Vols to a 41-20 win with five solo tackles. Walker had 1.5 tackles for loss in the season opener against Virginia, and generated one against Kentucky.
In his first season at Tennessee in 2022, Walker posted a season-high eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss against Vanderbilt in a start. He kept the end-of-season momentum going with a pass breakup, interception and quarterback hit in the Orange Bowl. Walker also chipped in three tackles for loss in the win against Kentucky and came up with a fourth-down sack against Pittsburgh, key contributions in two important wins for the Vols, and had pass breakups against Alabama, Georgia and UT Martin.
Walker was a three-game redshirt during his first season at Georgia Tech in 2019, then started 13 of the 20 games he played in Atlanta in 2020 and 2021.
In 23 games in the ACC, Walker totaled 96 tackles, two tackles for loss, six pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He had a career-best 10-tackle game against Duke in 2021, a season that also saw him force and recover a fumble against Northern Illinois and force a fumble and break up two passes against Miami, and he had two pass breakups against UCF.
A member of the Class of 2019, Walker ranked as the No. 30 player in the state of Tennessee and the No. 83 overall cornerback in the class.
