Transfer Portal LB Allen Walker has big plans at Jackson State
Jackson State grabbed the attention of the college football community when Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders signed as their head coach on September 21, 2020. The Tigers’ last won the SWAC championship in 2007, prior to Coach Prime’s arrival.
The school would capture back-to-back SWAC titles in 2021-22 under the direction of Sanders but fall short twice in the coveted Celebration Bowl. This past December, with a 27-6 record during his three seasons at Jackson State, Sanders was named head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes.
What Coach Prime built is resonating as strongly as ever in Jackson, Mississippi. Sanders may no longer be there, but his brief legacy has left an efficacious foundation.
“We are most definitely building something special at Jackson State,” new arrival via the transfer portal Allen Walker said. “You can thank Coach T.C. (Taylor) and our recruiters for that. We are most definitely building something special.”
Allen previously played at Louisiana Tech but entered the transfer portal and among the 20 offers he received, he felt a sense of home when signing with Jackson State. Something positive radiated from the words Coach Taylor spoke to Allen. The former Bulldogs’ linebacker was committed to being part of something special at Jackson State.
With two years of eligibility left, Allen is eagerly awaiting his opportunity to showcase his talents. Leaving Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia, he had over 40 scholarship offers. Mississippi State, Maryland, and Kansas, to name a few of the Power 5 programs who wanted this 6-foot-2 plus and 230-pound linebacker.
It might be easy to miss Walker, who recorded just 26 tackles during his Louisiana Tech career, but on those limited occasions, the athleticism flashed. The college scouts, with their feet on the ground roaming school to school, picked up on Allen, hence his 20-some offers while in the transfer portal.
That type of attention doesn’t come if teams don’t see something special in the player. That is what Coach Taylor saw in Allen. He was going to maximize everything Allen could bring to the defensive side of the football.
“He wasn’t going to limit me to just playing inside linebacker,” Allen said of what Coach Taylor relayed to him. “He wasn’t going to limit me to just rushing. He was going to use my talents in multiple ways. When he told me that, it really opened my eyes.”
With plenty of eyes on Jackson State after their revival under Coach Prime. Allen and Coach Taylor have the privileged pressure of keeping the program amongst the SWAC elite and winning the Celebration Bowl.
Allen is applying his own positive pressure to achieve all the top-tier goals every college football player strives to accomplish. During our conversation, he echoed a “Celebration Bowl win” as the first order of business at Jackson State.
“From a personal standpoint, I plan on being first-team All-SWAC this year,” Allen said. “I want to be an All-American.”
Everything is in place for Allen to finally have the breakout season he has been craving since arriving at Louisiana Tech in 2019. A coaching staff that plans on utilizing his skill set and the opportunity to play in one of the most electric atmospheres in college football.
Allen’s memory of playing his first collegiate game at Texas back on August 31, 2019, was another big factor in his decision to go to Jackson State. The crowd of 93,418 on that late summer evening in Austin, Texas, left a lasting impression on Allen. One he felt could be duplicated at Veterans Memorial Stadium the Jackson State Tigers football team calls home.
“Honestly, I have thought about it a lot since I’ve got here,” Allen said when thinking about his first home game at Jackson State. “I’ve spoken with a lot of players that played the previous years under Coach Prime and the atmosphere on game day is ridiculous.”
Sanders left Jackson State on a positive trajectory toward success. The team, under the direction of Coach Taylor along with newcomers like Allen, can keep it trending towards winning the Celebration Bowl.
“We are going to have something truly special this year,” Allen said.
