Army Black Knights’ senior slotback Kell Walker out of Decatur, Georgia rushed for 320 yards in 2018 for the No. 19 ranked team in the country, which was 3rd on the team behind quarterback Kelvin Hopkins (1,017 yds) and fullback Darnell Woolfolk (956 yds).
As a stand alone entity, Walker’s numbers may not jump off the charts. But for the No. 2 rushing team in the nation and the triple option offense that is run at Army West Point, it truly fits the definition of “greater than the sum of its parts,” meaning in that the cumulative individual rushing totals provided a nearly unstoppable offensive attack.
Of course there is some expectation that Walker will receive more touches this season and part of that will be to take the burden off of Hopkins, but also allow No. 5 to do what he does best and that is break off big gainers, as both a rusher and receiver (11 receptions - tied for 1st; 170 yards; 1 TD).
GoBlackKnights.com caught up with Walker after practice on Thursday’s to get his thoughts on spring ball, the upcoming season, but also taking a brief look back on the 2018 football campaign.
Perhaps one of the most notable changes for the senior slotback is that his running mate Jordan Asberry has graduated. The heir apparent to Asberry is Artice Hobbs, who many fans received a glimpse of what he can bring offensively as witnessed in both the bowl and Navy games.
The Speed Factor
With Walker and Hobbs, this is probably one of the fastest slotback tandem that the team has had since Head Coach Jeff Monken took over the program. Walker shared with GBK how much speed factors into his game as a running back.
“Just speaking on Artice Hobbs a little bit first ... I’ve been here for 3-years and I’ve been slot (back) my whole Army football career,” Walker declared. “I’ve played with guys like Tyler Campbell, Jordan Asberry, Christian Drake and all those guys, but I think that Artice Hobbs brings a little bit more speed and a different dynamic then we ever had before. He makes our backfield better each day.”
“I compete with him on speed, he competes with me and that makes our backfield better. But speed to me, honestly I’m not a big guy (5’9”, 195 lbs) so I have to be fast, I have to come around the edge fast when I get the ball ... I have to fast, agile, elusive so I can get open space and make plays for the team.” ‘That’s what it means to me and speed kills overall,” added Walker. “I can bench 300 lbs, but if I’m not fast on the field, I’m not going to be doing my job.”
Next Man Up
Of course it was two years ago the offense lost the entire O-line minus center Bryce Holland through graduation and now the team has lost the majority of the B-backs in Woolfolk, Davidson and Holt. But according to Walker, it really will be business as usual and next man up.
“Like most good teams, when it’s your time you have to step up,” explained Walker. “We have a great B-back corp right now lead by Connor Slomka, whose doiong a tremendous job leading his group. The O-line and guys like Jack Sides are stepping up to lead that group. So, I don’t see any changes coming with our offense, but you might have to ask Coach [Brent] Davis that {laughing}.”
“But whatever it is or whatever changes there are we will adjust. But I think the guys stepping up are doing their jobs well and working hard for it.”
With his final season wearing the Black & Gold on the horizon, Walker who has been a major part of the success of the offense and the team overall ... what does he feel must unfold for the 2019 offense to keep the momentum/success going?
“We don’t have to do anything differently than we did last year, besides bring more energy and more intensity and more effort,” shared Walker in his always calm manner. “As far as the offense goes, the offense is going to stay the same regardless of what year it is. As I said, we have some guys who are willing to compete in the backfield ... Artice Hobbs is leading, I’m leading up front ... we are both leading the young guys.”
“All we have to do this year is execute, focus on our jobs and get better at the fundamentals everyday.”
The Impact
And when we did speak to offensive coordinator Brent Davis, he confirmed the importance of Walker's talent past, present and future.
"Kell has been a huge part of the improvements we have made on offense over the last three seasons," shared Davis. "He has served a variety of roles and has performed well in all of them. We expect him to emerge as one of the true leaders on our offense in his final season."
Reflection
Obviously Walker and his teammates, along with the coaching staff are looking forward to and preparing for this 2019 season, but we asked the senior slotback to take a step back to the historic 2018 season and provide us with at least one thing that really stood out for him and here’s what he offered up.
“I mean, we won another bowl game and we beat Houston by a-lot and they were a good team; we beat Navy again and won CiC again,” Walker states as he begins to put things in perspective. “But the biggest thing that stood out to me was going into ... I can’t remember what they (Oklahoma) were, No. 4 or No. 5, but going there and shocking the nation. We held our own and made it go down to the last seconds in overtime. That was the thing that really stood out to me.” “Nobody expected us to go in there to do that. They didn’t even put it on ESPN, but put it on Paid-For-View and it went down as the best game they nobody ever saw.”
“I am proud of that team, proud of that brotherhood and we went down there and handled our business,” he added. “I wish we had a different outcome, but that stood out.”
Stay tuned for additional observations, as GBK continues its coverage of spring practice.
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