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Keenan Walker is an athletic offensive tackle recruit.
Keenan Walker is one of the top offensive lineman in the nation, and has received interest from high-level programs from across the nation.
Walker attends Paradise Valley (Ariz.) Chaparral High School, and is projected to play offensive tackle at the next level. He is listed at 6'6 and weighs in at 280 pounds.
Walker is a consensus four-star, receiving the rating from 247sports, Rivals, Scout and ESPN. Scout is highest on the recruit, ranking him as the eighth-best offensive tackle prospect in the Class of 2015 nationwide, but all four recruiting services rank him among the top 20 players at his position in the nation. ESPN also rates him among the top 10 tackles, placing him at eighth. The 247sports composite, which aggregates the ratings of all four major recruiting services, considers Walker a four-star, rating him as the 10th-best offensive tackle in the nation and the second-best prospect in the state of Arizona.
Walker claims offers from Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC and Arizona, among others.
Scouting by Derrell Warren (@yssd)
Walker is an offensive line recruit who is blessed with great size. He still requires his share of physical development, however. But with that being said, he carries a great frame conducive to putting on a ton of good weight. It’s important to note, however that he has yet to play a down of his senior season, so he has plenty of opportunity to realize future growth.
Walker has the nasty disposition that you like displayed in an offensive tackle. He seeks out contact, finishes up blocks, and plays to the whistle. For example, on tape there are several instances in which you see defenders take exception to Walker’s physicality. And you’d rather teach a kid to play with more control and discipline as opposed to trying to coax aggressiveness out of a player.
Walker is an athletic tackle who’s probably best operating on the move. He gets out of his stance quickly and is often asked to make his initial block on the defensive end, then flow to the second level to pick-off the strong-side linebacker.
When run blocking, Walker needs to do a better job of anchoring at the point of attack. Too often you’ll see him bend at the waist and overextend. He can be dominant as a run blocker when he squares up his target and brings his hips through contact.
Although Walker is a big, physical kid, he can be overly reliant on size to overwhelm smaller opponents. He comes off the ball high at times and loses leverage because of not being a natural knee bender. Consequently, defenders are able to detach from his blocks as he attempts to drive them backward.
In the film reviewed, you don’t see many reps of Walker in pass protection. That said, he carries the physical attributes to excel as a pass protector. He has length, punch and the lateral agility to mirror effectively in pass protection. He’s light on his feet when asked to move in space.
Walker is still growing into his body. He should probably take a red-shirt year and dedicate that to reshaping his body and adding weight functional strength. This is especially true if he’s going to stay on the right side of the offensive and anchor a program’s running game. Depending on depth, he projects to be a starter by his redshirt sophomore season. Has the upside to blossom into a plus level starter at either tackle position.
Note: Recruits commit and decommit throughout the process. No effort is made to note commitments or decommitments in these scouting reports. All we note is claimed offers at the time of evaluation.