The Only Junior on the 8A All-State Team: Brad Walker Jr.

Jake Lemming

August 6, 2020 @ 07:48 AM

One of the more productive defensive linemen in the state of Illinois resides at Huntley High School. That would be senior defensive end [player_tooltip player_id= "20309" first= "Brad" last=" Walker Jr."] He's coming off a stellar Junior campaign that included being named to the 8A All-State Team. For most seventeen-year-old kids, they would be awfully satisfied with that type of success. Not Walker, however, he's been putting in a ton of work this off-season and feels there's one thing in-particular he want's to improve on, "The biggest thing to me would be my endurance. Being able to give 110% every play." If you watch Walker's tape, you wouldn't recognize any lack of endurance. This kid played with a high motor and was running from sideline to sideline. To me, though, his biggest strength to his game has to be his get off and his quickness, Walker, had similar feelings, "Some of my strengths would be my quickness off the ball, my strength, and my ability to be versatile on the line." Winter can't come soon enough, as he has big goals for the 2021 season. Huntley returns a lot of talented players, including senior QB Bruno Bosman, senior WR Alex Denniston, junior DB Chris Medina, and more. He definitely has goals this season, but they more focus on his team and not him, "Assuming that we have a season my main goal is to make it further into the playoffs. I also want to coach up the new D-Line starters and make sure they know the plays and are able to perform to the Huntley standard after I graduate." <img class="alignleft" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOrHHIxWoAAi5xF?format=jpg&name=large" alt="Image" width="301" height="416" /> As for colleges, he's hearing from multiple schools, including North Dakota, Southern Illinois, Grand Valley State, Concordia St. Paul, Eastern Illinois, and St Thomas. Eastern Illinois, Dayton, Concordia St. Paul, Grand Valley State, and St Thomas have all extended offers. I don't think his offer list will end there either. This kid is supremely talented and has the stats to back it up. As for when he was planning on making a college commitment, Walker let me know he was thinking around Christmas. However, I spoke to him right before it was announced Illinois was delaying their high school football season. I wouldn't be shocked if he decided to change that timeline. If there's one thing you should know about [player_tooltip player_id= "20309" first= "Brad" last=" Walker Jr."], it's that he's a team guy. His teammates and coaches mean a heck of a lot to him. "My favorite part about football is that I have the opportunity to be around great coaches and players. The relationships that are built on and off the field are priceless," said Walker. This kid is going to have a lot of people in his corner entering the 2021 season, and you can most certainly add me to that list.