Deone Walker, Kentucky Defensive Lineman

Are you a fan of mystery and adventure? Introducing June's Journey, the captivating free-to-play mobile game that will ignite your inner detective. Play as June Parker in a thrilling murder mystery adventure as you search for hidden objects to uncover the truth behind her sister's death. Step into the glamorous world of the Roaring Twenties with stunningly illustrated scenes and over a thousand mysteries to unravel. With new chapters added weekly, you'll never run out of clues to chase and suspects to interrogate. Plus, you can build your own island escape with beautiful gardens and buildings and even join a Detective Club to collaborate with other players. Experience the thrill of being a detective and unravel the mystery in June's Journey.

Download June's Journey now on your Android or iOS device or play on PC through Facebook games. Worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect, impressed-them-on-the-third-date guacamole? Well, good thing Instacart shoppers are as picky as you are. They find ripe avocados like it's their guac on the line. They are milk expiration date detectives. They bag eggs like the 12 precious pieces of cargo they are. So let Instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date. Download the Instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last.

Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. We miss college football. Milrose stands in. He throws into the end zone. He caught it. It's caught by Isaiah Bond in the corner of the end zone. Touchdown Alabama.

We can't wait for the 2024 season. Hands it off to Edwards who will bounce it outside. Donovan 40. Donovan 30. Donovan Edwards is in the clear. His second touchdown run of the ballgame.

This time for 46 yards and Michigan has taken a 13-3 lead on the second touchdown of the night from the man who was not tripping. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? I said no. Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb show. All right, welcome back in. Now we're number two of our radio program.

That's right. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We are 115 days away until Kentucky football kicks off its season against Southern Miss. And now joining us is their star defensive lineman and Deion Walker. And I see this guy's name rising up the early 2025 mock NFL drafts. Like I'm a nerd when it comes to football mock drafts. I've already peeked those out.

And I saw NBC had him as a top 15 pick next year. Deion, appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this. And how you been? I've been good, man. Thank you for having me.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So in your sophomore season, you had a big jump from your freshman year. How do you look back at last season individually for you? I feel like it was a great season. You know, I still left a lot of plays out on the field. And, you know, I'm just not too happy about how our season ended. What kind of jump are you looking to make in year three? I know you guys started off strong down the stretch.

It didn't go your way. We talked about the big jump that you had individually as a player and some of the national recognition you receive. But as a program and then also for you individually, what kind of like leap do you think you guys could take this year? As a team, you know, we got a lot of leaders. You know, we lost some key components, but we brought in a lot of guys from our transfer portal. You know, we got to all of our guys got a lot of experience. We got experience at every position group. And I just feel like we have a bunch of leaders.

There aren't any just one set lead set of leaders. We like if somebody has something to say, they're going to step up and say it. And I feel like that's going to like make our biggest jump for this next season. Let me get to the quarterback position. We know you can hit the quarterback now. You don't hit your own quarterback in practice because then Coach Stoops will probably throw you out of the practice facility. But Brock Vandergriff, what do you think he could bring to this football team this year? Brock, you know, he's a gunslinger. He's he's very, you know, hoist in the pocket.

That's one thing I do like. You know, he's always happy. He's going to uplift you no matter what.

You could be having a bad day. He's going to come over to you. You're going to be all right.

We don't you have a bad practice. He's going to try and make you laugh, try and make you get over it, you know. And that's some great things that we need out of our quarterback, because as long as he's happy, if he's making everybody else happy around us, our team is going, our team morale is going to stay up always. Talking to Deon Walker right now, everyone notices your size. I don't think you get enough praise, though, for your quickness. Do you feel like your quickness is an underrated part of your game?

Because when I was watching a lot of the tape last night, that's what jumps out to me. How damn quick you are getting to the quarterback. Yeah, you know, not too many people can, my size can move like me, you know, so it'll just sneak up on people, you know. And that's one, that's one reason I feel like I did so good my sophomore season, because nobody was really expecting me to be as quick as I am, be as fast as I am and be as active with my hands as I am. So, yeah, I say sneak up on people a lot.

Let's say someone has never seen Deon Walker play football. How would you describe what that looks like? Um, yeah, I'll say, you know, he's an active wrecking ball. I like that, controlled chaos. Also Brandon Fisk of Florida State, he said that when he was in studio with us, controlled chaos. And I see a lot of that in him and I see a lot of that in you as well.

Yes, sir. Talking to Deon Walker. So how do you deal with this extra attention? When we brought you in, I discussed how already you're starting to see your name fly up the mock drafts in the first round. That means you're doing a heck of a job.

But how do you kind of deal with all that extra praise and spotlight kind of getting shifted your way? I don't really look into that. You know, I just want to play football. You know, I haven't really been even looking at all of the mock drafts or anything.

I think I've seen one from my best because my dad sent it to me and had me at like number three. But I really just been focused on my studies. You know, we just had a final.

So just finishing up. When did you start to realize, though, in your journey that we call life that, OK, you know, football is something not that you only just enjoy. But man, now Deon Walker, I'm pretty damn good at it.

And maybe I could do this one day for a living. It was really a high school because I was at a point in my life before one of my. You know, I call him my uncle, but he's really just one of my old coaches, high school coaches. Before he passed. Like three months before he passed, we had a big sit down because I wasn't right mentally. And he and I just like didn't want to play football right now, like it was just over. And he literally came to my house. He made me have a three hour sit down cover with him. He's like, if you want to change your family's life. This is your chance to do it.

And that really shifted my thinking as to. And I'm just doing this before it's like I really got a shot. Sorry to hear about your loss, just reflecting on that relationship with your coach and uncle, just how much you still carry his memory with you to this day.

All the time. You know, I have a tattoo of his name on me like he's really shaped me to the man that I am today. Talking to Deon Walker with us right now as we get set for Kentucky's football season, one hundred and fifteen days away until the Wildcats are back on the field going up against Southern Miss. Do you approach this season thinking it's going to be your last season at Kentucky or you just day by day in your approach? Yeah, I want to approach it as you know, I'm trying to leave this year because that's going to have me leave it all out there, no matter what that's going to have me, you know, just one hundred percent every every play. So I feel like I'm going to always look at it as this is my last year, then rather.

That's OK, we got to move, you know, just dilly dally. Who's your favorite player, by the way, in the NFL, like growing up, who was someone that you I don't know if you modeled your game after them, but you really paid attention to and you became a fan of those players growing up. Love that, sir. Clay's Campbell, right?

Yes, sir. Man, have you ever met him? Have you ever had any conversations with him? Just wondering?

No, I want to, though. Well, we all know he's a big dude that can move quickly and he's going to the Hall of Fame one day. So I know it speaks for itself, but just having your defensive line kind of mindset, what are the things that you really enjoy about his game? He just knows the game of football. Well, like so well, he knows what run blocks he's getting. He knows what runs run scheme he's getting.

He knows the tendencies of whichever online he's going to guess. You know, he's just a film warrior. Wrapping up with Deon Walker joins us right now, your football coach, Mark Stoops, I think he's one of the more underappreciated coaches in the country. What he's done at Kentucky has been absolutely phenomenal. A few 10 win seasons. How do you kind of describe your relationship with coach and just what he means to you after being with him for two years?

Coach Stoops, that's family. You know, that's my dog. You know, we always just talk about or, you know, I could call him whenever something going on with me or if I just want to talk, if I just want to, you know, just chop it up on him. He's very open to that. He doesn't care. He wants to build a relationship with you as a as a person, not just a player.

And that's one thing I love so much about. You know, change is part of football, right? We see players leave. We see coaches leave when there was all that speculation that he was going to be the next coach of A&M and you knew you were coming back or maybe you're going to hit the transfer portal.

Just how did you kind of process that? And when you found out that Coach Stoops was staying at Kentucky, just what kind of emotion did it bring? That's another part into saying like the relationship, because when I seen all that, as soon as I seen that, I just caught him up and like asked him, like, are you leaving? He's like, I said that I was going to go on a visit.

I never agreed to anything. And he was like, he kept it real me. He like, I don't know if I'm going to agree to it or not.

But like that, that's all that I ask is just for him to be honest. Why did you elect to stay at Kentucky? Because you could have gone into the transfer portal.

I'm sure you could have got a crazy NIL deal somewhere else. But what made you say, OK, I want to continue to be a Wildcat? Just because I'm loyal to who's loyal to me and Coach Stoops, all in all, not leaving and choosing to stay at Kentucky really showed his loyalty to the team, to the organization, to the school. Wrap it up with Dion Walker, a few more minutes on the Zach Gelb show as we get you set for Kentucky's football season, 115 days away and a little college football fix. What do you hope to prove this season?

Just wondering that I just want us to get over that hump. You know, I want teams to know, I want people to know that Kentucky is a team to be reckoned with. Do you feel like this is a team that doesn't get a lot of respect? Because I think people know you're you're a good team, but they think there's limitations on how good Kentucky could be. Yeah. And, you know, I hate the back talk. Oh, yeah. Kentucky just can't never get over that 10 win season.

Can't never get over the hump. We're going to try our hardest to show this year. And last thing I'll ask you on a fun note, because, right, you're a big guy. I'm a big guy.

We all know big guys. We like to eat. Let's say you're not in training, right? You're not counting the calories. You're having a cheat meal. What is the Dion Walker cheat meal?

Just wondering. I'll say some lamb chops, macaroni. It'll be a whole feast. How many lamb chops can you take down?

Can I take now? I'd say about, I'm somewhere in the double digits for sure. It'd be about three or four lamb chops, some mac and cheese, some greens, some baked beans, some ham, you know, just a little bit of everything. And this has been a running question on the show.

This is like the biggest character evaluation I have in a human being. When you're eating wings, do you go ranch or blue cheese? Ranch. Really?

Oh, my. This is now three straight football players. Joe Alt, Brayden Fisk, and now you that say that they prefer ranch over blue cheese. What is it with ranch? Because I'm a blue cheese guy. Ranch is just so good. Blue cheese tastes like spoiled milk. Oh, man.

And my dad's a blue cheese guy and I look at him every time he eats it and I'm like, that tastes good to you? That's amazing. Well, I really enjoyed our conversation today. Good luck this upcoming season, all your future goals. Thanks so much for doing this, Dion.

Thank you. You'll never run out of clues to chase and suspects to interrogate. Plus, you can build your own island escape with beautiful gardens and buildings and even join a detective club to collaborate with other players. Experience the thrill of being a detective and unravel the mystery in June's Journey.

Download June's Journey now on your Android or iOS device or play on PC through Facebook games. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance, too, with the name your price tool from Progressive.

It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates.

Price and coverage match limited by state law. Here's why April chose to vaccinate her child. I think actually meeting someone who was not vaccinated and now has a lifelong struggle with a childhood disease really cemented for me that it's super important that we as parents continue to vaccinate our children. Talk to your pediatrician or visit YVaccines.com brought to you by Merck.