To me, the player who flashed the biggest NFL upside of anyone on that field tonight was Travon Walker. The man is 6’5”, 275, and his raw power is outrageous. He blew that Michigan front apart. When he stacked against Michigan’s O linemen, he shocked them way back on their heels and went and found the ball. He made a grip and rip move on one play that looked almost exactly like like Aaron Donald.
The play where he clubbed McNamara to the ground with one arm was astounding. He’s got the heaviest hands I’ve seen in a long time and his brute strength is off the charts. On top of all that he is cat-quick, long, lean and all twitched up. Man he looks like a future NFL star to me.
Yep, dude was outstanding no doubt.
Have you seen any of his other games? One thing I latched onto when watching college games, with the purpose of wondering where they might get drafted, is throw out the best game you’ve seen of certain guy, and then throw out the worst game.
I haven’t watched an over abundant of Georgia games, but I’ve seen a few, and that kid stood out tonight. Unlike thier MLB who stands out every single play it seems.
Likely I just missed him before.
I was waiting to voice my opinion on him until someone else remotely said something.
He might have been the best player on the field last night. He was disrupting everything with his power and pushed around Michigan’s lineman like they weren’t there.
That game definitely got him on my radar. It seems currently that he’s a fringe 1st rounder, but I expect that to change to 1st rounder after last night. Real candidate for the Rams pick.
I was watching the game with family, and I was pointing out to my dad (who’s the only other Lions fan in the family) who all the guys were that were draft candidates and where they’d go so he could watch them. Didn’t say a word about Walker, and he said that’s who he wanted at 2.
Doesn’t really mean more than if someone else posted here, but another opinion I wanted to share.
I would really be into taking him and Hutch to play the “OLB” spots here. He’s one of my top candidates for that pick. That was really impressive last night.
I’ve been checking him out , we shouldn’t need Dlinemen after last year’s investment but the fact is we still need a disruptive inside player. This guy fits the bill and is a option at lower 1 or 2. Warming up fast to this guy.
Watched the Kentucky film. Here it is in case anyone else wants to watch too…
He seems very undisciplined at first glance. It’s obvious he has great power and leverage and puts guys bigger than him in the ground; making it look easy. He doesn’t stay square to the line, at all. Shows some ability to drop into coverage, but isn’t great when he’s out there.
Kentucky seemed to run a bunch of stuff off of what Walker was doing. There’s a play in the 3rd quarter where Walker rushes inside a guard, who takes him across the center line, and Levis runs through the lane Walker opened up.
I’m obviously going to evaluate more film, as there’s more of it on YouTube, but right now, I see a 3rd down power rusher who shouldn’t be put on the field against a mobile QB.
He didn’t make many plays, and gets caught up in the run game a lot. If he’s not bulldozing you over, he seems to hold his ground and read, but isn’t good at shedding once he sees where the play is going.
Gets caught up in eye candy a lot, which Kentucky did a lot of.
He’s a 2nd rounder. If you believe you can take his power and make him an overall good football player you take him.
Lions have 5 interior DL players under contract for 2022… and that includes Penisini and Cornell… who are marginal talents… and Brockers will be turning 32yo and almost certainly in his final year here.
They need to have 6 on the 53-man roster… so they have to add at least 1 guy for 2022.
Beyond 2022… they have 2 guys to build upon… and will need more talent than a 2nd and 3rd round picks.
Levi gets double-teamed on about half of his snaps… yet makes tackles on a “per snap” rate that is similar to some of the better DTs in the NFL (Allen, Q. Williams, Payne, etc.)
Considering that DTs often don’t produce at peak levels in their rookie seasons… I am not sure how much more people should expect for a guy that has played just over 300 snaps so far.
He is just a guy, invisible most of the time. I m glad you love the guy and think his lack of production is due to double teams and what ever, the guy is a slug he was brought here to get inside pressure and he doesn’t and can’t. You can get a guy to just take up space as your giving him so much credit for in just about any Rd. Horrible pic in the 2nd. McNeil is a better player and puts more pressure on the QB from the nose.
Of the 3, whereabouts do you see them getting drafted? I think DT is a position that routinely drops in the draft and we may have a shot at The Bulldogs with our second 1st and early second. I think it’s possible Walker goes before Davis as well. Wyatt looks like a 3rd round guy to me, definitely a top 100 pick.
It’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds. Davis made some eye popping plays last night in his own right at 360! Especially impressed with his TFL on Blake Corum.
But back to Walker, I think he may go first of those DL because, though raw, he possesses such a rare combination of physical tools as an interior pass rusher. He’s got TNT in his hands man. People are exploding out of his way when he decides he wants to go somewhere. He’s almost certainly twitchy enough to play 4-3 DE too if someone wants him there. He’s just so outrageously powerful. He buzz-sawed right through a pulling Vastardis last night like he was a Jr High’er. Clubbed McNamara on the back from behind with one arm and Cade went down.
He is on a different level IMO. If a team has a plan to develop his mechanics and pass rush counters, look out. I’d think he’ll probably play at 285-290 depending on where they want him. His frame doesn’t look anywhere close to maxed out yet. I’ll get some grief for the comparison, but athletically…. he has a little Aaron Donald in him.
