Recruiting Report: Armon Walker (Armstrong-2020)

Robbinsdale Armstrong was a legitimate contender for the 5A state championship in 2019, and after an undefeated 8-0 regular season, the Falcons cruised to a 28-14 victory over Monticello in their opening section game. Things were looking good, but a matchup against one of the toughest 5A teams in the state in the Elk River Elks made the path to U.S. Bank a lot harder. Unfortunately, the Falcons dropped a tough 29-32 game to the 2016 state champions, who advanced all the way to the state semifinals, yet there is more than enough to be proud of if you are an Armstrong football player. One of these players, the slept on Armon Walker (6'3, 230 lbs.), has the size, intangibles, and work ethic to be an impactful college player at either the scholarship or non-scholarship level. Coming off a great season at TE for one of the best Robbinsdale Armstrong football seasons ever, Walker was kind enough to give Northstar Football News some of his time to answer some questions about his personal life, prep career as a Falcon, and any recruiting news the senior has. I hope you enjoy! Hudl: <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2CSha6">http://www.hudl.com/v/2CSha6</a> NFN: Hello and thank you for your time, Armon. Congratulations on a great 2019 season for you and Armstrong. If you could begin the interview by sharing with our readers a little bit about yourself and why you love football, we'd really appreciate it! Walker: "I was born in Chicago and moved to Hopkins, Minnesota when I was about 4. I started playing football in 7th grade when I moved into the Robbinsdale district. I love playing football because I like the adrenaline it gives me, I love the brotherhood I have with my teammates, and I like being able to help my team anyway possible. I’m 6’3 and weigh 230, my 40 was 5.2, and my max bench is 275. Last year I didn’t get field time it wasn’t until this year I got time after switching from defense to offense in 2019 where I had 7 receptions for 78 yards and 1 TD while being a great blocker for my team." NFN: That's great. Tell us about Armstrong's 2018 season. Also, elaborate on the improvements you made from '18 to '19 and walk us through the 2019 Falcon season from your perspective. Walker: "The 2018 season was really different because we weren’t all on the same page, some didn’t care the same way as others did and it’s just about the chemistry because we had the talent to accomplish big things but we just didn’t trust each other. The jump from 2018 to 2019 was great for the team because we all knew what we wanted to accomplish and we just all kind of clicked. Coming into the season I didn’t think I was gonna have a starting spot but I knew we had a great team. During the off-season I would hit up the field with teammates and we would just bond together and go to a pool or a beach and doing stuff like that helped out a lot. It was a great program to be a part it helped me become the athlete I am today. We played Spring Lake Park as our season opener and being that when we played them last year we lost by one, this was a big motivation in our success for 2019 as we knew we couldn’t lose the first game and especially to team that wasn’t as talented as we were. We were all around better than them and we won 21-0. Hopkins we scored 20 in the first half and won 37-11. Park Center we won 44-0. Chaska (the eventual 5A state champs) was a physical game as we were both unbeaten teams. Our offense put out defense in a bad spot by throwing a pick 6 and and then turned the ball over and got us down 7-14 but then we came back and won 32-14. Irondale we won 44-7. Coon Rapids (a 5A state semifinalist) was our homecoming and and honestly we weren’t ready to play so we were down 0-14 at one point. Luckily we were able to score before half that got us going we came back out and had 21 unanswered points and won 35-21. Chanhassen was a crazy game with all the snow and they were the team that we lost to last year in the season opener so we expected a battle and we won 34-0. Forest Lake we found out our inside linebacker got really sick and was not able to play so we had to move Jude Rognstad (our DE) back to play LB but that didn’t make a difference as our defense played the way they played all year. I scored the second TD of the game and we won 35-14 and it was the first undefeated season in Armstrong history. Playing Elk River we knew what kind of team they were they a run team they only threw the ball like 14 times the whole season and losing by 3 was tough especially know one of our TDs that game were called back because of a “ hold” which wasn’t a hold and put us back to like the 30 but we drove to the 10. And we had a bad play call and weren’t able to execute and the ball was picked off if we would’ve scored that drive we would’ve won. But it was overall a great season." NFN: Thanks for the details. So what's up with recruiting? Who are some teams you're interested in, what are you looking for in a college, and whose been in contact? Walker: "There really aren’t any schools I’m interested in yet due to the lack of visits I’ve had. I’ve been told that I’m a good size for my position. I have a couple of visits coming up in January. I’m considering going D2 but really just an option to not have to pay as much. I talked to UMary, Augsburg, UW River Falls. I’ve been to a Bemidji camp at Augsburg and an Augsburg camp. The recruiting process for hasn’t been what I thought it was gonna be like I wasn’t expecting more school to start talking to me but luckily they did. I want the college I go to to have a good safe environment, good curriculum and just feel like home to me." I hope that Walker's recruiting begins to pick up soon, as the senior has put in a lot of hard work and can be a beast at the next level. Looking forward to hearing some more recruiting news from #17 soon!