Vols freshman Walker provides physical dimension
KNOXVILLE — Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes approached junior walk-on Brad Woodson recently and asked how this season’s practices were comparing to last year’s practices.
He said, ‘Coach, they’re much, much more physical,’” Barnes related.
The difference, Barnes said, comes down to two things: players getting stronger and Derrick Walker.
As Tennessee nears next Thursday’s exhibition opener against Carson-Newman at Thompson-Boling Arena, a backcourt that has added graduate transfer James Daniel III and junior college transfer Chris Darrington is drawing attention. Freshman wing Yvez Pons raised plenty of eyebrows, too, when he leaped from one step inside the free-throw line to dunk during a preseason fan event on
Oct. 13.
Perhaps unheralded in the changes to Tennessee’s roster is the addition of Walker, a 6-foot-8, 238-pound freshman from Kansas City, Mo.
“The fact is he’s a very physical player,” Barnes said. “He brings
that. He brings the physicality to us, our practices.”
Walker’s college-ready physique came as a surprise to Barnes, who recalled seeing Walker in high school and thinking he would spend a lot of time with Tennessee’s strength and conditioning staff upon his arrival to campus.
“But I was really impressed when he got here with how much weight he had taken off on his own,” Barnes said. “Sometimes in recruiting you get surprised. I would say he’s a surprise in the fact that he’s a competitor.”
Walker showed that competitiveness on Tennessee’s summer trip to Europe, averaging 13 points and eight rebounds per game as the Vols went 3-0.
“For me, it just gave me a chance to prove myself to the coaches early,” Walker said. “I was just very consistent with my craft, consistent throughout every game rebounding and scoring, defending, just doing my job as a teammate.”
The European success has carried over to practice, where Walker’s combination of height, width and athletic ability has made him a rebounding menace for a team that struggled on the glass at times during last year’s 16-16 campaign.
Walker’s physicality stands out, but Barnes also noted that he is skilled offensively. Walker is known as a good passer, and he has permission to dribble the ball up the court after securing defensive rebounds
It will be a fight for minutes this season on a Tennessee roster that, when healthy, could go 12 deep. Walker seems on his way to carving out a role that Barnes hopes will increase over time.
“He’s played on good teams and he’s played with good players,” Barnes said. “But I want him to see himself in a different light, not just being a fourth or fifth option in the way he thinks. But … he still has a ways to go to get his body where he really needs it. I would say that he has surprised us in a lot of areas.
“I think that one day he has the ability to be a great leader for us.”
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.