Hoosiers Now

Former Indiana RB Ronnie Walker Jr. Transferring to Virginia

Stuck behind Stevie Scott and Sampson James on Indiana's running back depth chart, Ronnie Walker Jr. is looking for a fresh start at his home-state school, the University of Virginia.
Tom Brew|
Former Indiana RB Ronnie Walker Jr. Transferring to Virginia
Former Indiana RB Ronnie Walker Jr. Transferring to Virginia

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Former Indiana running back Ronnie Walker Jr. is heading back home to continue to college career. A Hopewell, Va., native who spent two seasons as a backup in the Hoosier's backfield, Walker is transferring to the University of Virginia.

Walker will have to sit out the 2021 season because of his transfer. He will have two years of eligibility remaining for Virginia.

Walker, a 5-foot-11, 210-pound running back, played in 22 games for the Hoosiers, and was dependable in third-down situations, especially a year ago when Indiana went 8-5 and made a bowl game. 

But Walker was frustrated by being third on the Indiana depth chart behind sophomore Stevie Scott and true freshman Sampson James and got only 27 carries during the 2019 season.

Now, the former Virginia high school star is going home.


Walker rushed 59 times for 221 yards and two touchdowns during his Indiana career. He also caught 12 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown, and was Indiana's most dependable pass protector in the backfield. As a freshman in 2018, Walker rushed 32 times for 141 yards (4.4 average) with two touchdowns, including one that came on a 30-yard sprint against then-No. 18 Penn State. 

In 2019, he had 27 carries for 80 yards and scored one touchdown, which came on a 64-yard catch-and-run in the second game of the season against Eastern Illinois. Walker is an excellent student, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2019.  

He had a 14-yard run on his only carry in the season opener against Ball State and had a 15-yard run against Purdue in the regular-season finale, where he had a season-high nine carries because Scott was out with an ankle injury. But on his other 25 carries last year, he gained only 51 yards, a paltry 2.1-yard average.

He was a high school legend in Virginia and a huge recruiting get for Indiana at the time.  Walker was a two-time all-state and all-region selection, and he led Hopewell to the 2017 state championship. 

As a senior, Walker rushed for 1,344 yards on 216 carries (6.2 average) with 19 touchdowns. He posted 122 yards on the ground with three touchdowns in the state semifinal game. 

Walker was named the 2016 Region 3A East Player of the Year and Conference 26 Player of the Year as a junior after rushing for 2,011 yards on 250 carries (8.0 average) and 25 touchdowns in 14 games. 

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Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew has been the publisher of “Indiana Hoosiers on SI’’ since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as an award-winning reporter and editor for more than four decades, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He operates seven sites on the “On SI’’ network. Follow Tom on Twitter @tombrewsports.

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