Trevor Lawrence on Jaguars' Travon Walker: 'You See Why He's the No. 1 Pick'
Travon Walker's fellow rookies have already formed strong impressions on the Jacksonville Jaguars' new No. 1 overall pick. Now it is last year's top selection who has come out with high praise for the newest Jaguar.
“He looks the part for sure. Just really his demeanor, I enjoy being around him. [He’s] a really calm guy, humble, hard worker. Then obviously you see him, and you see why he’s the number one pick and all that," Lawrence said on Monday after the Jaguars' first day of organized team activities.
"But just his personality, I’m excited to get to know him more. I think that’s kind of the type of personality that I gel with, so I’m excited to get to know him. I think he’s going to be a great player for us.”
Walker has drawn praise from the Jaguars' locker room and coaching staff in the early phases of the team's offseason. The former Georgia Bulldogs product has long had a reputation as a hard-worker and a coach's type of player, but he has also shown the obvious athletic ability inside the facility and on the field that the team expected and hoped out of a No. 1 pick.
"He’s been doing really well. He’s been in here all last week and really embracing the role, obviously been working at the one position and doing extremely well. He’s such a pro," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said on Monday.
"He’s so hard on himself. He doesn’t want to make a mistake and you just have to tell him, ‘Hey, just calm down, relax, everything’s going to be okay. We have plenty of time before we play a game.’ But you like players like that who are critical of themselves and their performance because they want to do well, and he’s been one of those guys.”
Walker, to this point, is still in the infancy stage of his NFL career, but Lawrence and the rest of his teammates have been able to sense why he is the top pick, joining a host of other Georgia defenders in the first round.
Walker and Lawrence also share another connection outside of being top picks by the Jaguars. Each was a star high school football recruit in the state of Georgia, with Walker knowing the legend of Lawrence well before he committed to Georgia.
"Trevor was definitely a legend in the whole state of Georgia and had all the records," Walker said after being drafted by the Jaguars.
"I mean I didn’t know him well, but we’re both from Georgia so I remember meeting him and would kind of follow loosely in college. Then to see him come out this year and that team, Georgia’s team last year was so stacked," Lawrence said.
"I was actually at the game, they played Clemson first game of the season, so I got to see him firsthand. Now playing together’s pretty cool.”
“I’d have to say I’m pretty close with Trevor Lawrence. I’ve known him ever since high school, so I feel like he’ll be somebody who takes me under his wing. I came on my top-30 visit, he was working out, he ran up to me, so I just feel like we already have that bond. I have Tyson Campbell here as well to help me.”
Walker had a successful first season at Georgia, earning Freshman All-SEC honors in 2019 as he was named a co-winner of Georgia's Defensive Newcomer of the Year award. In 12 games, Walker finished with 2.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss and one pass deflection while also contributing on kickoff coverage units.
In 2020, Walker played in nine games and recorded 1.0 sack, 2.0 tackles for loss, one interception, and one forced fumble. Walker then had a career season in 2021, starting all 15 games as Georgia finished the year as National Champions. During Georgia's title run, Walker recorded 6.0 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, two pass deflections, one fumble recovery, and a team-high 36 quarterback hurries.
Walker then had arguably the best combine performance of any defensive player in 2021, measuring at 6-foot-5 and 272 pounds but still running a 4.51 40-yard dash (98th percentile), a 36-inch vertical jump (80th percentile), 123-inch broad jump (87th percentile), 6.89-second three-cone (93rd percentile), and a 4.32 20-yard shuttle (76th percentile).
