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2018 IMG Academy DT Josh Walker has become a national recruit

Josh Walker hails from a big family and a close-knit community in Carrollton, Georgia. He is a self-described homebody and the son of Jock Walker, a minister, who also happened to be his position coach at Carrollton City. Most families get to wait until after high school to send their son off into the world, but the Walker family decided that a move to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida was in Josh's best interest. So the elder Walker did what he thought was, and sent his son and his best defensive lineman to IMG Academy in January.

"They (IMG) wanted me to come since my sophomore year but parents didn't think I was ready so I waited until my senior year and we decided to make the move down here," said the younger Walker. "It was different not seeing my parents and family every day. I just had to get settled, used to their (IMG's) schedule, and how things run here like getting on their eating plan, work out plan, sleep schedule, and their academic schedule."

We asked him what the workouts were like and Walker was very straight forward.

"It's hard, we lift on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The rest of the week we do field work. They definitely take care of your body here and I'm enjoying it and very thankful for the opportunity. I feel like I'm a good kid plus a homebody, so it's easy for me to just stay on campus and get my work done," expressed Walker.

Walker will be used as a 3-technique Defensive tackle at IMG, meaning he will usually line up on the outside shoulder of the offensive guard. In order to be as effective as possible, he told us that he has added seven pounds to his frame and know weighs in at 6-foot-2, 296-pounds. It looks like all that regimented dieting and weight training at IMG has been paying off so far for the 3-star defensive tackle, he is currently benching over 435 pounds and put up 315 and astonishing 17 times, according to his father Jock.

Josh has become somewhat of a National Recruit at this point, with offers ranging from the North Carolina Tarheels in Chapel Hill to the UCLA Bruins of Los Angeles, California.

"Yes sir, I have offers from coast to coast and no sir I'm not big on playing in-state. Right now I talk with Nebraska head coach Mike Riley a lot, he's a great guy. My first planned visit this spring is to Nebraska. I also talk with California defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro about once a week. Oh, and I talk to Georgia Tech too, I don't have an offer from them yet though but I feel one is coming," informed Walker.

Walker also expressed an interest in Louisville, and he intends to visit the Derby City for their Spring Game in April. The plan is for him to fly up from Florida and join his father as well as 2020 Charlton running back Mecose Todd at that time. Jock Walker also mentioned that a Louisville offer is coveted by Josh and his family because he played against current Louisville DT Chris Williams, who Josh played against when Williams was at Sandy Creek HS in Georgia. His father added that his son Josh looks up to Williams, who was a star player in his region, who overcame the adversity of having to go to JUCO before landing on his feet in Louisville.

The elder walker said plans are in the works to attend a few camps this summer, with the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp and the Opening as his top choices and possibly even the Under Armour camp. It will depend on how Josh feels physically around that time before a final determination is reached as to which camps Josh will attend.

As far as Walker's top schools, his family informed FlaVarsity that the list is still open because it is so early in the process and a top-ten would be premature at this time since they are weighing all of their options.


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