Last Friday night, Scout's Jake Worthen reported Mike Leach picked up his first verbal commitment of the 2013 class in Trevor Walker, a defensive back from Arlington, TX. Walker told Cougfan that Leach and staff had him rated as the #1 safety on their board. While I don't doubt they were interested in him, the only way he's the #1 safety on their board is if they omitted Su'a Cravens.
Walker is listed at 6'1, 185 pounds and has the frame to add more weight. His Scout profile at one point listed him as a CB, but he is 100% coming here to play safety. Walker hits like a ton of bricks and is a good tackler. He takes great angles when trying to run down the ball carrier, which shows a lot of football intelligence for a kid his age. While he's certainly not slow, speed isn't his main weapon.
You can watch another, probably better video here.
Walker Damante Horton'd himself into quite a few interceptions, so don't look at those as super telling of anything. I counted four instances where the ball absolutely should not have been thrown, but was, resulting in him picking it off. He still made some pretty nifty catches, though, so give him credit for that.
Walker most likely plays SS for the Cougs because of his ability to help in run support, but he's no worse than Tyree Toomer in coverage, meaning he could see time at both safety spots. Overall, Walker is a pretty good first get for Leach. Also, TEXAS PIPELINE! WOO!
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