Q: Tell us about a young Nakobe Dean. What was your first impression?
Walker: Oh, similar to me. Country, thick accent. My accent got better ever since I came to the West Coast a little bit, and probably when I went up north a little bit, my accent got better. But kind of similar to me, country guy, you know what I’m saying, well-minded and everything like that. I kind of thought the world of him already. Hard worker. There is just so much that I can put in the words to say about him, and I’ll just keep it at that.
Q: You are country guy. We were talking about fishing before this interview. You said your granddad taught you how to fish. How does that help to have those kind of moments and that kind of a hobby that can keep you even-keeled. Has that has that been a part of who you are?
Walker: Yeah, for sure. It just eases your mind because my mind can be racing so much. So many thoughts that travel through a human mind. Anytime you got a chance to just sit back and just chill and relax. Everybody has their own hobby, that just happens to be mine.
Q: Eric Stokes, Brock Bowers, a bunch of Georgia guys here. What is it about that program that makes players so NFL ready?
Walker: Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s kind of militant. The way that Coach [Kirby] Smart, just the way he molded us as soon as we came in. The standard that he [held] us upon, I know a lot of people, teams, or players, whatever the case, just preach about the standard. Everything that we did at UGA prepared us for being in the NFL. So there’s nothing we haven’t seen, nothing we haven’t been through, and just no matter what it is, on or off the field, I think it just prepared us real, real well. And so, by the time we got here to the NFL, it was just like riding a bike all over again. It’s something we already had been through in our mind and already saw.
Q: Nothing intimidates you, and not a guy like Josh Allen coming up. When you’re a linebacker and you’re lining up and you look at him, what has to go through your mind because he can hurt you a lot of different ways.
Walker: It’s a lot. You don’t want him to get out the pocket. You don’t want him to scramble, especially as a linebacker dropping back in coverage. First thing in your mind is, “Should I go get him or should I stay in coverage?” It’s a lot that plays hand-in-hand with that. But you’ve got to know what’s the important thing for you to do. What’s your job during that down? And during that down, it may be, I have to stay in coverage and stay attached to my guy because if I leave my guy because I’m thinking he’s about to run, now he pops it and he throws it. Just a whole lot that comes with him. He’s so good with his feet. Tremendous athlete. So much more that I can say, but it’s a lot to come to mind when thinking of him.
Q: James Cook is also a big threat. What do you see from him on film?
Walker: A whole lot, honestly. This is a guy I came in with during college at UGA as well, so I kind of know a lot about him. Great route runner, can run the ball, can hit different holes. He may start over here this way, then he’ll end up all the way over here. Great body control. Just a well-rounded athlete. Real, real great player, friend of mine as well.
Q: What needs to happen early in this game for this defense at home to kind of set the tone very early?
Walker: Just calm down, man. Just get our cleats in the ground. Just play ball, fly around. Get all 11 guys to the ball. Not only that, get off the field on third down. Anytime we can try to win first and second down to make third down a third-and-long situation, we have our opportunity to get off the field. We just have to get off the field and start there.