Michigan in a Great Spot with Massive Defensive Tackle Prospect

Michigan hasn't exactly loaded up at defensive tackle over the last few cycles but it's in a great spot with a top target in 2022.

Michigan offered Detroit Cass Tech defensive tackle Deone Walker in July of last year, but after that contact was a bit up and down. Now, over the last several months, Michigan has been all over the 6-7, 340-pounder. 

"They really picked up a lot and I can feel more love coming from them than every other school right now," Walker said. "They really said it was because of all the coaching changes and everything. They’ve really picked up a lot after Coach [Mike] Macdonald got hired. Coach [Steve] Clink and Coach [Ron] Bellamy too. They’ve just been coming back to back to back for me.

"They’re like one of my top two schools as of right now."

The other school is Michigan State, with Arizona State and Pittsburgh also doing a good job recruiting the big lineman.

Deone Walker is all of 6-7, 340 pounds

With Michigan, it's been a group approach. Walker named a few of U-M's coaches when asked who is heading up his recruitment and there are even more involved than that. It's clear that it's all hands on deck for the in-state product. 

"It really is a team effort how they’re recruiting me," he said. "The people I talk to the most are Coach Bellamy, Coach Clink and Coach [Sherrone] Moore."

With Bellamy being a local guy there is some familiarity there, and Clinkscale has always had a presence in Detroit. Both of those guys are doing a great job with Walker and he seems to like both of them on a very real level.

"I just really started getting to know Coach Bellamy well recently since he got hired," Walker explained. "I obviously knew about him and we talked a few times when he was at West Bloomfield, but it was just like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ Small talk. That’s about it before. 

"Coach Clink — I know a lot about him. He develops players really well. He knows who is going to go to the league. He knows an NFL-type body and NFL-type mind. He knows how to get you there so I really like that about him."

Of course there's also defensive line coach Shaun Nua, who has been involved with Walker longer than anyone else. Even though the two have been in contact for a while, Walker just got to meet Nua for the first time last week at Michigan's Detroit Day event.

"I actually didn’t expect him to be as tall as he is," Walker said with a laugh. "He’s real genuine; he’s just really cool. He’s a hyper guy and I like his energy. I can tell that he really likes me."

Walker really enjoyed getting to meet Nua and the rest of the staff for the first time last week. It's really been over a year since these kids could visit campuses, so the rebooted experiences have been making a big impact on the athletes.

"The visit felt good," Walker said. "I really saw what Michigan had to offer for the most part. I saw the facilities, I walked into The Big House. I talked to all the coaches, the graduate assistants and the analysts — everybody. It was a great experience."

Walker will be back in Ann Arbor soon and his reason for doing so certainly sounds good as a target of the Wolverines. It's almost like he's going to be doing some recruiting for the maize and blue even though he's uncommitted at this time.

"I’m coming back to Michigan on June 18," he said. "My boys from Florida are coming to Ann Arbor so I want to be there. My boys [Clearwater (Fla.) Gaither defensive end] Mario Eugenio and [Clearwater (Fla.) Gaither defensive tackle] Tawfiq Thomas. I wanted to come back with them and just chill with them while they’re visiting."

With his senior year fast approaching, Walker has started to think about an end game. He's not quite ready to pull the trigger yet, but he's starting to put some things in place to better prepare himself for a decision.

"I’m talking with Arizona State about setting up an official visit when they play USC but that’s really the only one I’m thinking about right now," he said. "I’m going to trim my list down again after June is over with. I think I might trim it down to a top five or seven. 

"I don’t really know how much longer I can take the process. It’s fun but it’s hard having all these top-tier schools talking to you. You don’t know where your mind is at all the time."

To me, it definitely seems like Walker will be Blue or Green. Arizona State does seem to be legitimately involved, but at the end of the day, kids stay close to home more often than not. It's going to be interesting to see where Walker visits but U-M and the Spartans are still going to be tough to beat.