Previously: Last year’s profiles. S Damani Dent, S/Nk Zeke Berry, S/HSP Keon Sabb, CB Myles Pollard, CB/Nk Kody Jones, CB Will Johnson, LB Deuce Spurlock, LB Jimmy Rolder, DE/LB Micah Pollard, DE Derrick Moore, DT Mason Graham, DT Kenneth Grant, DT Cam Goode, T Andrew Gentry, T/G Connor Jones, G Alessandro Lorenzetti, C Olu Oluwatimi, TE Marlin Klein, TE Colston Loveland.

Ponchatoula, LA – 6'4”, 180
[Barron]		247: 6'4/175            3.60*	3*, 87, NR overall #101 WR, #31 LA
		Rivals: 6'3/170            3.73*	3*, 5.7, NR overall #34 ATH, #22 LA
		ESPN: 6'3/170            3.95*	4*, 80, #128 SE #44 WR, #16 LA
		On3: 6'4/180            3.68*	3*, 88, NR overall #88 WR, #23 LA
		Composite:            3.83*	3*, 0.8826, #522 ovr #72 WR, #25 LA
		Other Suitors	ND (decommit), Bama, LSU
		YMRMFSPA	Nico Collins
Previously On MGoBlog	Commitment alert.
Notes	UA All-American. Twitter. Early Enrollee.
Film:
Senior Highlights: Hudl. Play of the week.

The best Pixar film since their acquisition is debatable, but Coco makes enough of the lists that I think it can serve for some consensus. It is a brilliant film, gorgeous, deep, and almost perfect except for one unfortunate uncanny valley (Spoiler Alert). See, for much of the movie this kid who's traversing the Land of Dead is doing so wearing skeleton facial paint to disguise the fact that he, unlike all the rest of this realm, still has his muscles and flesh. And you're thinking: Did none of these (ex-) people watch sports?

Sport fan brains are wired to tell how much meat a player carries on his bones if nothing else. Swap Steve Breaston's jersey for Jason Avant's, and you'd still have to get 100 rows back to fool anybody.

The latest moment like this was in Michigan's spring game. Nobody had seen Amorion Walker, the early enrolled wide Receiver from the sandal gap of Louisiana, and nobody seemed to have accurate rosters of who was on maize or blue, but nobody who follows Michigan recruiting had trouble identifying #4.

They would have known, for example, that ever since this Southerner whose catching radius has its own zip code had the best 40 time (4.41) and vertical (40 inches) at Bama's June 2021 camp, Michigan had worked extremely hard to pry Walker out of Notre Dame's class, and that Notre Dame everything short of abandoning their most hallowed tradition (losing to a mid-major school) to prevent it. They also might have known that Special Agent Ron Bellamy played for Walker's coach, that Sam Webb was alerted by the staff that they saw this as a 5-star recruitment, and he should get be on hand for the announcement on (early) Signing Day (Sam's second visit to see Walker). That everyone who saw Walker play apparently agreed with the two winningest schools with the nation's best scouting staffs, but couldn't bring themselves to rate the guy higher than 3 stars because he looks like a twig.

Then the twig teleported past Will Johnson and settled in the soft spot in Cover 2.

Okay, we see it. Now feed the boy.

---------------------

Around here he's known as Strider

This ought to have been one of the best types of recruitments from a scouting perspective: 7v7 (Louisiana Bootleggers), played for a power school in the South (IE the kind that broadcasts its spring game), was MVP of Louisiana's Class 5A (highest) state championship game. Under Armour All-American, recent camps, SEC interest, over 100 linked articles on 24/7, and best of all, a long commitment to Notre Dame to give Irish Illustrated's Kevin Sinclair and Tim Prister plenty of time to grade his film.

Prister got in before June 2021 camp numbers changed Walker's recruitment from unheralded 3-star to power program battle royale, but was already intrigued by the "rangy, ultra-long striding assets"

His strides are about as long as you’re going to see from a wide receiver in the open field. … loose, free-and-easy runner. Listed at 4.56 in the 40 as a sophomore, he’s more difficult to defend than that number indicates. He puts cornerbacks on the defensive off the snap of the football because of those imposing stride [and] when he puts a foot in the ground and makes a darting, less-than-90-degree out-cut.

He also labeled Walker the best recruit in ND's class to that point, comparing his body type and skillset to Will Fuller. He also called Walker a "five-year project" who would "not arrive … as a ready-made player." When the 40 times did come in Prister wondered if it was FAKE, because if not "the Irish have a steal" due to his "upside, length, quickness, athleticism, and sharp-cutting ability," believing the length and athleticism should compensate regardless.

That athleticism was talked about in eerie tones:

I love @AmorionWalker as a DB.
6’4 and plays with natural pad level. Great pad level at that height allows his length to be more of an asset. This is spooky!! pic.twitter.com/WMoLAsfp6P

— Albert Brock (@ABXperformance) March 22, 2021

The old Irish Rivals staff credited Walker with "twitchy athleticism that is complemented well with his burst when he kicks into his top gear," and the "tools to be a big-time boundary receiver" except with "speed to leave his defenders in the dust." The new staff at Rivals' Michigan site thought their X-boxes were glitching:

Film: Lightning after the catch. Glides on turf. A 6-foot-3 target shouldn’t move like he does with a reported 4.5 40-yard dash, which apparently isn’t his best time. Shines as an underneath, open-field target who can turn the burners on instantly.

…and offered a comparison to Chris Conley, a 6'2" blazer drafted out of Georgia in 2015.

Harbaugh compared Walker to Andrel Anthony, "in like and build and catch radius." It also impressed 24/7's Southern scout Andrew Ivins, who said Walker possesses "NFL traits that could hit big if everything comes together" and, after seeing a couple of his games, "someone that catches your eye right away with his long, wiry frame:”

What I think is also intriguing about his game is what he can do after the catch as he’s got some juice to him and is good at navigating through traffic.”

LSU's people had him for a workout after the Alabama numbers, with 24/7's Shea Dixon describing a "prospect who is really raw .. and "really long." Harbaugh called him and the other two 2022 WRs a "freak show" then used Walker as the example:

ran a 6.25 three-cone the other day; had a 43-inch vertical jump.

His Hudl page includes a 4.2 shuttle, and a 10.8 hundred-meter dash. Lorenz had heard enough about Walker's athleticism that he made the top five offensive players he was itching to see live. Tom Loy, channeling the ND coaches, called Walker "one of the most underrated talents at that position this cycle," and Kevin Sinclair pegged Walker as an "obvious" candidate to move up the rankings after his All-American invitation.

You will suffer me

In case the 4.4 forty and 40-inch vertical didn't clue you, Walker is a run by you, then out-leap you receiver with a way of getting to the endzone. He scored a touchdown on 20 percent of his high school receptions (11/54). When the Bama time came in 24/7's national writer Gabe Brooks thought the forty was FAKE because they all are*, but as Touch the Banner says, Walker's film "makes him look like a greyhound being covered by a bunch of Dachshunds." TTB upgraded Walker to an "81" (just over 4-star) from a 77 based on that film but even before that he loved Walker as a field stretcher:

Walker has good speed, which can be seen on the field as well as in his track times. He has the ability to get skinny at the line of scrimmage to avoid contact, and then he has the acceleration to get separation and stack defensive backs. He also shows the ability to make acrobatic catches with his long, 6’4″ frame. Once he gets the ball in his hands, he shows some nice change-of-direction skills for his size. He runs with good body lean and should gain some extra yards after the catch.

The Rivals crew agreed that "speed makes him a lethal deep threat," predicting a "game-breaking, explosive play machine" down the road. Notre Dame was talking to him about the Nico Collins play:

Their plan for me is just to keep doing the same thing that I've been doing. Taking the deep shots, have packages where they just throw me the deep ball. That's what I usually do pretty good.

Prister noted "a knack for using his length and aggressiveness to win 50-50 balls."

He chews up ground as a natural W receiver in Notre Dame’s offense. His catch radius is large and he is gazelle-like in the open field. …long and lean with an expansive catch radius.

Ponchatoula head coach Hank Tierney, who coached Ron Bellamy back when people my age were Walker's age, has seen numerous 4- and 5-stars in the (many) interim years, but calls Walker "fastest player I ever coached":

Amorion ran at Alabama… he ran 4.3 twice. Twice: 4.36/4.38... something crazy like that. And then they did that GPS thing with him and he ran 22-point-something miles an hour. He can really, really run. And again, I've coached some really fast guys... Ronald (Bellamy), Mickey (Joseph)... Derek Joseph was a state 100-meter champion, Carlos Jones - played cornerback at Miami - was a state 100-meter champion - but Amorion's probably the fastest of all of them, honestly.”

In other interviews Tierney credited Walker for "taking the top off every coverage."

They can know he's going deep but he's running by you. He can change direction very good, when you watch him backpedal you can see that.

This was highly evident in an early matchup versus Arch Manning's team, wherein Walker snagged a 20-yard jump ball TD and outran the defense for a 40-yard score on a slant and go. The leaping was also evident when they threw his way (or didn't), via Walker's dad:

They’ve got to go to him a little more. But I think he did real well tonight. He caught every ball that went to him, and he caught all his fade balls.”

Sam Spiegelman of Rivals called Walker "a raw playmaker with speed and length" who could "emerge as a big play threat."

Why is this a three-star?

As far as I can tell, the hedging in rankings comes down to four factors:

1. Skinny.
2. Late riser who's still developing.
3. Scouts thought he belonged at DB

Addressing each in turn.

1. Are you sure you're not a stick?

Pinning down what Walker could become was difficult because there wasn't any meat to pin. Touch the Banner believes it's "the only reasonable explanation." Prister's film room post—written before the Bama camp—spoke of a "five-year player" …and the "steal" label was contingent on "once Walker begins to fill out physically." This was a consensus opinion. Spiegelman offered there's "room to tack on weight and sharpen up other aspects of his game." The Wolverine believed "physical development will be key here." Harbaugh in spring added a to-do list to his spring praise:

Amorion, once he puts in the offseason, gets another cycle these next four weeks and then the summer cycle, gaining the strength, the strength, and endurance, you can just tell he’s gonna be a tremendous football player to go along with all that athleticism.”

Even Tierney agreed "he needs to put weight on but he will, strong in the weight room, works hard." Walker didn't argue, agreeing his future school's plan included "widening up my frame, just building everything right."

2. Are you sure you've played football? Camps after his growth spurt were canceled, and he was out with a hamstring for all but two games in 2020, so Walker was playing catchup on his class. When he committed to Notre Dame in March 2021 the ND scouts at Rivals called him a "boom-or-bust player" who'll "need to continue to improve on his route-running ability" but also blamed themselves:

I’d imagine it’s in part because he didn’t play much as a junior. He’s not a guy who has been out on the camp circuit much either, so hopefully we’ll be able to see more of him in-person in the coming months.

Walker camped at LSU and Alabama in June 2021, whence word got out of a 4.4 forty and 40-inch vertical.

That's also when it seems Bellamy got the rest of the Michigan coaches on board with an all-out assault on Walker's ND pledge. Getting the rankings to catch up was harder going, as Tom Loy discovered when he asked 24/7 scout Gabe Brooks what was up with just an 87 (okay 3-star):

"I'm not gonna say that I saw him in person at the college camps, but people I know who did said he was really good. That's worth something. He went from an 86 to an 87, not because he got the offers, but because we heard from several people that we trust that, 'Hey, this guy was really good at this and this.' You don't want to bump a kid from an 86 to a 90 just because a few SEC schools offered. That's already what people think.

He also seemed to be behind on his development; his best games were late in the 2021 campaign, with a quarter of his season totals in yards and TDs in the state championship. EJ Holland saw him before that:

While Walker has a ton of upside, I still believe there is quite a bit he needs to improve on. I saw him in-game this year, and he was up and down as pass catcher. He has the height, athletic ability and speed, but Walker had inconsistent hands and shied away from contact. He’s definitely not as physical as the aforementioned Clemons, and I didn’t see much from him as a route runner.

Tierney argued that wasn't the case—"he'll go in the middle crack, block linebackers, he's a tough kid"—but recruiting reporters tend to be almost as stingy with criticism as head coaches.

Even then he was raw at the UA camp. Both Rivals and 24/7 put up tape of the Day 1 WR-DB matchups. In one Walker beat 4* CB Bobby Taylor (A&M) with a slick move then dropped the pass (0:40). In the rest he got dominated by (or was forced to play under) the best DB at the camp.

In the aftermath Rivals' Adam Friedman listed a dozen receivers he loved at the camp before getting to Walker and a Baylor commit who..

bring a lot to the table and their skill sets fit in with this group well but they haven't had the level of success the other receivers have.

…and Brandon Justice spoke of "an absurd amount of potential," with a but:

…remains raw. The route-running and overall build will need more than just some fine-tuning.

On3's Charles Power ranked Walker at the "back end of the receivers on Team Legends,"

…there’s no shame in not standing out. Walker has a tall lean, build and will need to continue honing his technical skills at the position, in addition to getting stronger.

In spring, Harbaugh praised Walker's "cerebral game," which isn't enough to counter tons of film and camp takes, though I do wonder how much of the latter are based on just a handful of reps versus Will Johnson.

3. Are you sure you're a receiver?

Both Alabama and LSU were talking to Walker about playing in the secondary, with Bama (who likes long corners for Saban's system) considering cornerback or safety according to Tierney, and LSU focused mainly on the latter. This was also the take of some who saw him at the UA practices. 24/7's Allen Trieu was one of those; his concern was they don't know what Walker will grow into:

You can see where there is some potential. He’s definitely a long kid. Very lean right now, I think he’s got to add some weight to that frame, but I think he’s got to figure out what side of the ball and Michigan is going to have to help with that figure out exactly what he is. Is he a wide receiver? Is he a defensive back? He’s playing wide receiver out here and had some flashes. He definitely has flashed during his senior year as well, but there is still the possibility he plays safety because of his length.

Trieu also offered "it takes a lot of these guys couple days maybe to acclimate to the competition," which adds to the overall sense that Walker was getting dominated.

Tierney thought Walker might play both "because he can really cover" and reminds us Bellamy was called over to the dark side once as well (hopefully Michigan won't be stuck starting a James Whitley any time soon). The Wolverine's EJ Holland didn't think it the worst idea, since "Walker really flashed in limited action at cornerback" and Rivals' Sam Spiegelman believed Walker's speed allowed him to keep up with even the elite receivers in 5A Louisiana ball.

TTB preferred Walker at receiver because, even if he had further to go physically, because he "lacks a little bit of aggression, and he does not have the best hips to turn and run or break on the ball." His comp was Darryl Stonum.

But Michigan's staff was certainly "intrigued" enough by his potential on defense to include Steve Clinkscale in Walker's recruitment, a fact that Clink slipped into a response to how much he recruits with Bellamy:

“We are always looking for guys that play both sides because we are looking for a more versatile player. I don’t try to pigeonhole someone as just a receiver or corner. If he can play both, for example Amorion Walker, if he can play both, let’s recruit him together.

This was confirmed multiple times by Walker himself, who reported Michigan gave him a mighty comparison indeed:

They like me on both sides of the ball too and that is their biggest pitch. Notre Dame wants me to play wide receiver, but Michigan sees me as a receiver and cornerback … I like the idea of playing both offense and defense and they have told me I could be the next Charles Woodson. That is something that has my attention.

With an assist from Sam Webb, I believe I've tracked down the source of that last bit:

“I just think it's about being real,” Bellamy said recently regarding his recruiting philosophy, “I go back to my experience being a high schooler and my parents. When … Coach (Fred Jackson) recruited me… how did they recruit me?

It's a theory.

The Wolverine's Clayton Safie reported Walker showed enough in the spring to shoo the defensive staff away for now.

Savor the Tears of Old Notre Dame

What did this do you you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest. How do you feel?

Just as there are for 3-stars, there are a few categories of commitment flips:

1. Moved up. This is Mason Graham switching from Boise State to Michigan. The player is committed to his best offer, and gets a better one.
2. Poaching. One school gets an early commitment, another discovers him later or a coaching change alters their priorities, and they come full-barrel.
3. Things change. A coach leaves, or a program scuttles, or other circumstances arise that change the formula for a recruit at his current school.
4. Never in. Often players commit to a school, give the "100%" line, and are still obviously in play. Rayshaun Benny is a good example; Michigan State got him to pledge, but Michigan didn't back off a smidge, and he never asked them to.
5. Dropped out. To varying degrees the program a guy's committed to values him less now than they used to. In 2022 alone Michigan had seven decommits of this ilk, in descending order, Mario Eugenio (Cincy), Alex VanSumeren (MSU), Tay'shawn Trent (YSU), Tyler Martin (Zona), Davonte Miles (BGSU), Aaron Alexander (UMass), and Myles Rowser (Campbell).

I mention this because nothing generates rationalization on the internet like a teenager choosing not to go to Notre Dame. They would have a tough time making the case for a #5—Loy said ND "worked extremely hard" to keep him, got an official visit after Walker seemed like a flip, and ND's staff made an in-home visit right before ESD. They're on stronger footing saying Michigan wanted it more. As of Signing Day Eve, Tom Loy expected him to stay with the Irish, said ND's staff were still pushing hard and felt as confident as Michigan's, until literally midnight.

This is Prister, somehow not Loy, lamenting the snake oil:

The loss of receiver Amorion Walker is disappointing because of the lack of numbers at receiver more than the assurance that he will be a quality college football player. How they lost him stings because of the underhanded tactics by the winner and a lack of common decency and respect toward Notre Dame by those who made the decision.

Bonus: in the same article Mike Elston is held up as the exemplar of virtuous loyalty. Anyway this was the "lack of common decency and respect toward Notre Dame" he spoke of:

We've found our good luck in @AmorionWalker. Give our newest Michigan Wolverine a follow.

️ https://t.co/ilH2IYp4t0 #GoBlue // #SAYLE22 pic.twitter.com/MG94PdVIBO

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) December 15, 2021

It was a poaching.

The bigger question was how LSU let a kid from their state escape the South. They had him for a private workout and offered as an athlete (WR/CB/S) under the old staff, and Brian Kelly's WR coach had bolted for Nebraska when Signing Day hit, but Walker didn't seem interested in playing for the Tigers at any rate, keeping lines open to Alabama instead.

Gauging Bama's interest, they offered after he camped there last summer, and were trying to get him back to campus after his championship game, but also (via Walker's dad) were getting such little reciprocal interest that Walker canceled an official visit to Tuscaloosa in October. Texas A&M headed off a final hope of a shortened visit immediately after the Louisiana championship, however, in their pursuit of Mathews, which makes it sound like Walker was an afterthought they were willing to take as a package but not alone.

Ronald Bellamy, himself a onetime Hank Tierney receiver protégé out of Louisiana, was the crucial ingredient in turning Walker around from Notre Dame. Steve Clinkscale played a supporting role. Walker makes it clear that Harbaugh got personally involved in bringing this home. The picture emerges of a guy Michigan identified as a priority, and Notre Dame got caught playing defense at once with Brian Kelly as head coach, and then without a head coach.

* We Greg Brooks on 40 times: This is his response to why Walker wasn't rated higher, but it's worth holding onto as the definitive essay on 40-yard-dash FAKE-ness:

“I’ve heard people say, 'Oh, he ran a 4.41 at such and such camp.' Well, the thing about that is with these college camps, there is such a wide range of 40 time data that comes out of these college camps. Even these elite invitation camps like Under Armour and when they have the The Opening Regionals, even those vary on conditions and surfaces, or if they start on hand and end on laser or if they are laser to laser. I say all that to point out that, personally, it's good to get as much data as possible, even if it's hand-timed, just for perspective. I just don't think you go from an 86 to 90 on a guy because he ran a 4.4 at somebody's camp, if that makes sense. A 4.4 at a college camp, I should say. Now if you go to an Under Armour camp and you break 4.5, that alone on a guy you're curious about his top-end speed and if the testing speed will translate to the field at some point, and it's laser-laser 40 time, I think that's very valuable. I say that because I trust track times more than anything. Track is a laser-start and a laser-stop. Yes, conditions can be different, but they make adjustments on other factors. A sub-11 100-meter time is worth more to me than a laser 40-yard dash because the data is more reliable."

This is why I try to report 100-meter times when available.

Etc. Plays basketball and runs track. 3.9 GPA. Father (Rob) played TE/DE for Mississippi State. Has family in Grand Rapids and Farmington Hills. Read Ron Bellamy's full quote on his recruiting style. This means the sting of losing Tyler Morris is back, right?

Why Nico Collins? Duh. Super-fast super-hoppy receiver from deep in SEC country who should be thrown the ball a zillion times and arrives underrated because he's too skinny and doesn't get thrown at often enough.

Guru Reliability: Medium-high. They were playing heavy catch-up after having nothing on this guy until mid-2021, but they had a lot of opportunity to do so with a full senior tape against top competition, UA appearance, and big school camps. They all say the same things, even if their rankings differ by quite a bit, with ESPN's relative high point explained entirely by their well-established, credibility-undermining regional bias. That doesn't mean any of them will be accurate; this is how they rank boom-or-bust types.

Variance: All of it. Walker needs to put on a ton of weight, and all the UA scouts agree that he isn't strong enough or savvy enough to survive against all the big-and-tall jammers that college teams can throw out there to neutralize deep threats. Can a guy maintain his speed and agility after adding 20 pounds? What about 30 or 40? Were the hands just a blip at the UA practices, or a real thing?

Ceiling: Ain't.

General Excitement Level: Shake Down the Thunder, which is the recruiting score equivalent to like a 9-2 season over good-on-paper competition that doesn't look as great on film but still gets you some consideration for a playoff berth. For you spreadsheeters, that's equivalent to "High," 8 points on Mathlete's 1-10 scale, or 4.25 on the five-star scale.

Projection: Give it a couple of years for Walker to fill out and get used to this level of competition, and then #ThrowItToNico. With Ronnie Bell, Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson, Andrel Anthony, and AJ Henning back from last year's rotation, Michigan has only a handful of Lloyd Carr Memorial "get out there and block" non-garbage snaps for the freshmen and RS freshman Cristian Dixon. Walker's classmate Darrius Clemons is first in line for those, going by spring ball. I expect they'll get Walker on the field for a JJ Special (or Warren Special) late in games to show off what he can do, but they won't break his redshirt.

Bell, CJ, and Wilson (this year's "whoa, let's not forget about this guy!" of my summer rewatch of last season) are one or at most two seasons from leaving for the NFL no matter how much eligibility remains to them, which means the next generation needs to be coming forth by 2023. I expect Andrel Anthony to lead that generation, but Walker might have the highest ceiling of any of these guys, and I expect we'll start seeing it come 2024, his RS sophomore season. By that point if he's the Nico Collins to Clemons's Donovan Peoples-Jones, LFG.

If the receiver stuff isn't working out, there's still defensive back. I love this secondary class but they also seem like guys who will burn through their college careers quickly, especially Will Johnson. If Walker's not a breakthrough receiver in two years, he could be Michigan's second-best cornerback in four and five, and that would be pretty okay too.

Gun to my head, I side with Nico 2.0, considering any bet otherwise is to underrate Ron Bellamy, and just look where that got Notre Dame!