Arden Walker is Being Put on School's Radars
Arden Walker has been one of the more underrated 2021 prospects in the state of Colorado for quite a while.
He is the most dominant defensive lineman every time he steps onto the field in Colorado.
But for reasons unknown, he hasn’t been receiving some of the same attention as other guys in the state.
Until recently. He’s picked up offers from Michigan State, UCLA and Michigan over the last couple weeks and is starting to receive interest from big-time power conference schools across the country.
“I’m just taking it in honestly,” Walker said. “It’s been great so far and it’s starting to build back up again. I’m getting my name out there a little bit more with some of these schools.”
The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder is explosive off the edge or inside and is a nightmare for opposing offensive linemen.
Mel Tucker’s staff at CU offered him about a year ago. And he has been in constant contact with the new staff at Colorado.
“I got on the phone with the head coach (Tuesday night),” Walker said. “We had a good talk with me and my dad. Just talking about me staying in-state potentially and if I see myself at Colorado next year. “
Walker’s dad, Arthur, is Arden’s defensive line coach at Cherry Creek. He was also an all-conference defensive lineman for the Buffaloes. He has a lot of connections to CU so he had met head coach Karl Dorrell a few times previously. So the call was a good time for them to catch up.
“Oh, we had a great conversation,” Walker said. “He just talked about getting the program back to where it was, in terms of saying like the 90s that's like the peak times during the program around that time. And he was kind of catching up with my dad as well because they knew each other, kind of, previously. But also more about me. Like essentially what I can do for the team and where he sees me as a player how he sees me as a player and a priority. And so like basically just kind of getting a feel for him as well.”
Walker has been recruited by outside linebackers coach Brian Michalowski throughout this process as he was retained from the previous staff. ‘Coach Mike’ reaches out to him every day.
“Yeah me and Coach Mike, we talk a lot,” Walker said. “He sends me stuff every day, like pass rush film and that’s what I want to be at the next level potentially, a great pass rusher, a dominant one. That’s my goal.”
He also has had some discussions with new defensive line coach Chris Wilson. Of whom his dad also knows pretty well.
“I talk to Coach Wilson a lot as well,” Walker said. “He also has known my dad for a while as well. They used to play back in college against each other when (Wilson) was at Oklahoma.”
“He’s been real honest with me in terms of my film. He’s spent time in the NFL career-wise and he’s been with some guys. So he gives me an honest viewpoint of my film and stuff I can work on and that’s basically what we’ve been talking about the last couple of days.”
The Colorado native does not know where he’s going to fit at the next level. Mostly because he has no idea how his body will develop. He could get bulkier and play on the interior. The most likely scenario, if he keeps his current frame, is he will be out on the edge. It’s clear it doesn’t matter where he fits in because he can disrupt from all angles.
Walker says the three schools reaching out the most are Boston College, Iowa State and Kansas State. He also has been hearing from Texas and is hoping to receive an offer from them soon.
He wants to visit Michigan, Texas and Boston College in the summer.