2022 NFL Draft recruiting rewind: Georgia's Travon Walker to Jacksonville Jaguars

Georgia edge-rusher Travon Walker skyrocketed up big boards during the draft process and was selected first overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars

Perhaps no player in the 2022 NFL draft helped their stock more during the pre-draft process than Georgia's Travon Walker.

After posting stellar workout numbers, the 6-foot-5, 272-pound edge-rusher, originally out of Upson-Lee High School (Georgia), strongly entered the mix as the draft's No. 1 overall pick.

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In the end, Walker was the heavy favorite to go No. 1 overall and was, in fact, selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars first overall. 

Here's how he was rated as a prospect by the major recruiting services coming out of high school in the class of 2019: 

247Sports

Ranking: 5-star prospect; Nation's No. 5 overall prospect, No. 2 defensive tackle, No. 1 prospect in Georgia

Notable: Walker weighs 13 pounds less than he did as a high school senior, which explains why he transitioned from defensive tackle to a run-stopping, athletic edge-rusher.

Interestingly, the Georgia product was No. 5 nationally - one spot ahead of Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux. 

247Sports projected Walker as a future first-round NFL Draft pick, comparing him to Kansas City Chiefs star Chris Jones. 

Rivals

Ranking: 4-star prospect; Nation's No. 34 overall prospect, No. 4 defensive end; No. 4 prospect in Georgia

Notable: While Rivals was still quite high on Walker, he missed the five-star cut and was the No. 4 player in his home state.

Walker was listed behind solid Oklahoma-turned-Arkansas wide receiver Jadon Haselwood (No. 1), projected high NFL Draft pick and Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. (No. 2) and honorable mention All-Big Ten performance and Michigan defensive lineman Christopher Hinton (No. 3). 

ESPN

Ranking: 4-star prospect; Nation's No. 46 overall prospect, No. 6 defensive end, No. 8 prospect in Georgia 

Notable: Putting together this series, ESPN is frequently the lowest on the projected top-10 picks.

They were the only service to name Derek Stingley Jr. as a four-star prospect, and didn't even have Walker as a top-seven prospect in his own state - none of the higher-rated players have even come close to Walker's draft status.

Still, he was listed a top-50 prospect nationally, which means ESPN had an NFL projection on Walker. 

Senior season highlights