Exit Kareem Walker
[Patrick Barron]
Kareem Walker's departure was reported by Toledo sports anchor Jordan Strack over a month ago but nothing resembling official word came from either Walker or the program so he (and Kekoa Crawford) existed in this Schrodinger world where if we open the box we're pretty damn sure the cat has transferred but don't actually know, you know? Whoah.
Anyway, box open, cat is headed to JUCO:
Fort Scott Community College head coach Kale Pick told reporters at the recent Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference football media day event Walker has signed to play with Fort Scott for the 2018 season.
Pick said Walker signed with his program Friday.
Walker had a hard time keeping up with his academics at Michigan and that's probably what got him in the end. Anyone who mentioned him privately said he was a nice kid and not a guy who'd get in trouble.
Walker flashed the ability to run guys over and some quickness that made him a highly touted back in scattered snaps and still has a good shot at being a productive D-I back after this season. Michigan returns its top two RBs from a year ago, so Walker's departure is more about what happens in 2019 and 2020.
Good luck to Walker. Weird to think he was committed to OSU at one point, where he would have been an honors student.
Hoping he can get it figured out and have a nice NFL career.
Hopefully he doesn't go back there. Hope for the best for him but it would suck to see him go to Clemson or something and tear it up.
I wouldn't mind seeing him tear it up at Clemson, just as long as it isn't against us.
2019 & 2020; Hopefully #>Barrett happens
seemed like a great kid in the interviews i had watched... hope that things work out for him.
Good Luck Kareem!
Best of luck to the kid, hopefully he does great things with the next opportunities, should be plenty ??
Dammit, I was really hoping he would be able to stick it out. I think he could have taken TI's carries this year and have a break out year.
Good luck, Kareem!
Sad to hear but if the academics were difficult for him to contend with then it was probably for the best. While the athletics at UM are strong, the U built its reputation on academics - it isn't an easy road by any stretch of the imagination.
Hopefully he'll have wild success at his new school and will emerge from it with a good degree that he can count on later in life. Should he get back to the good graces academically he could even pursue a master's degree somewhere to add some oomph.
Academics are tough for the student, but for the football player who is taking kinesiology courses and has five tutors, sorry but I don't see how one fails unless they make zero effort...good luck to him.
I would be with you if it were a regular student, but big time college athletics is a full-time job on top of being a full-time student.
It's not easy just to be present in class after a two hour practice that started at 5AM. It's a grind.
Tate Forcier is that you?
No, because Tate never went to class in the first place.
Good point, sigh.
I agree. We need to stop with the academic are too tough nonsense. These “student-athletes” are basically handed a degree the moment they register as a student. How is it that most of these athletes who barely graduate from high school can come to UM and graduate in three years?
God this take is so tedious.
I disagree. I don't think they are handed a degree. The football players I ran into on campus were serious students. I'm not saying there aren't slackers, but it's not an easy row to hoe. That we have kids going through and getting their degrees and playing is a good thing. It doesn't happen everywhere.
It's a tremendous opportunity for them, no question. And a real ticket for some of the kids who may be new to college and it's academic rigors. I have zero problem with the University providing tutors, especially given the money that is made off of them. The smart ones (like Gardner) take advantage of it and get out with a Masters and no debt. That's a real benefit and something to fall back on.
Wasn't it my favorite Wolverine who was illiterate? AC
I do not know every player's schedule, but a handful of kids out of 85 graduating in 3 years isn't shocking considering:
It seems like there are more early enrollees, which gives them a full semester head start.
I believe many of them take some summer classes during their time here.
Some students probably come in with credits from AP classes.
Oh gawd, now the entire neighborhood's dogs are barking because of your damn dog whistling.
Good guy, look forward to seeing him in Season 4 of Last Chance U (he will be playing in the same conference as the current spotlighted team, Independence CC, so I figure we'll get a glimpse of him when they play Ft. Scott). Could still have a good shot if he gets the academics worked out.
By the way, I just finished Season 3 this weekend... what an ass the ICC head coach is. If I were the school President, I'd rather go 0-10 than have that guy represent my institution. He makes Eastern Mississippi's Buddy Whatshisname look like the ultimate in sophisticated worldliness by comparison.
Living here in the middle of the godforsaken state of Kansas-I hear you. All the JUCCOs and small colleges out here who have/use football/athletics to simply boost their enrollment creates a disaster waiting to happen. It's a tough gig all the way around...bad coaches add insult to injury.
Season three was great and seeing the 'real' Kingston Davis was very interesting. Looking forward to seeing Kareem tear up the Pirates 'd'.
Dang. I was pretty high on Walker too. I still think he will be an impact RB before he graduates. Now it hurts quite a bit we didn't keep AJ Dillon in the fold as a RB. He's like a fast DeVeon Smith.
This year's crop will offset anything dillon could have provided in ther future. Michigan will be fine.
We don't even have a 3rd string RB right now. We have Higdon, Evans, and then who knows. Tru Wilson getting hype as the 3rd man is a red flag about our depth.
I have been hearing we will be fine for the last 15 years. Everything always goes according to plan.
Dillon would offset all the talking head love that J.K. Dobbins is getting in this preseason.
He was at best the third back this year and I believe Charbonnet will fill that big back role very nicely next season, as RB is a position that a true freshman can have immediate impact. We also have Gray coming in next season. Walker obviously has talent but this is probably a case of a kid needing a change of scenery where he can find himself and gain some confidence. Would not be surprised at all if he puts it together by his 5th year.
Best of luck to him - like others have said seems like a good kid and was well liked by his teammates.
Best of luck to the young man. It is strange though, he did an “ask me a question” thing on Instagram not that long ago and he denied he was transferring.
Here’s hoping he finishes his eligibility strong!
This is frustrating as a Michigan fan. I know academics at Michigan is extremely hard, but I am sure there was a program that he could have completed. The amount of solid resources and programs to get these kids through school are there and available...
Programs such as OSU and Bama don't have to worry as much regarding academic standards as Michigan and Stanford.
Kareem would have excelled at OSU if he were there, but with Weber, Dobbs, who knows...
Good luck to Kareem and Mitchell.
The athletic programs at Michigan provide tutors with significant support. With any real effort academics should not be a good reason to fail.
Some people just can’t hack it, even with the tutors and the study table and the rest of it.
The silver lining in this is that Michigan didn’t do anything untoward in order to get him through.
Michigan is a good school academically, but I’m sure there are enough soft classes and tutoring help to balance out the differences in academic standards between Michigan and other schools. The fact is that college itself is difficult for many kids academically and some will not be able to do it. Many can, so it’s a minority of kids who struggle to the point where they can’t make it, but they’d probably struggle to the same extent at Bama or OSU. Unless you’re implying that Bama and OSU cheat to keep kids eligible and I won’t disagree, but I’d point out they only cheat to keep players who play significant minutes eligible.
Best of luck young man.
Best of luck to him.
Best of luck to KW. Who do we expect picks up his snaps among Taylor/Samuels/Wilson?
There's been a good amount of hype for both Haskins and Turner coming in
Best of luck to Mr. Walker. But this does create a potential hole in the RB depth. I'd have thought Walker would be the #3 back this year. Without him, Michigan needs to find a couple guys who can provide quality depth. As we all well know with RB, injuries are a fact of life. Hopefully, Evans and Higdon can stay healthy this year.
The curse of the highly touted RB recruit continues. Woe betide to Zach Charbonnet and Eric Gray. I fear we will need to sacrifice a live chicken to remove this ongoing blight on Michigan football.
Sad to see him go but it always seemed inevitable
Having just watched last chance u, I don't think going to a CC in the middle of Kansas is the right move. Seems like kids that go from big programs to these places have trouble staying motivated. From the show it looks like their academics get worse not better. If I was him I'd stay D1 and sit out a year. At least you still get the top notch coaching and facilities. You take the year off from playing to get your business handled and come back strong for your senior year.
Either way, good luck to him hope he figures it out.
Hate this. Really liked what I saw in his limited carries. Seemed like a nice kid. I was definitely a fan.
It did seem kind of ordained that this would ultimately happen though. College academics are tough, UM more so. Some kids simply don't have the chops for rigorous academic demands regardless of the amount of tutoring.
He always seemed like he was in the dog house from the time he came in. He was good, and he was talented, but I have to wonder if even football wise, at least a little initially, he over rated his own ability? Didn't put in the detail work needed for college football; playbook, blocking, the tiny details of fundamentals that start to make a difference at this kind of level? It's no longer just "get the handoff and run". Unfulfilled talent is a cliche and we'll never really know what held him back. I wish him well, it would have been great to see what he could have done here.
Good luck to him. I was always pulling for him to be a guy next year when Higdon is gone. Hopefully he'll find success somewhere in way that doesn't hurt UM.
This is quite the gamble for him. D1 has a lot of programs that don't, shall we say, challenge the mind much; why not transfer to one of those??
Seems like a JUCO transfer is a high risk of being forgotten.
Wish him luck. It sucks that he couldn't hang in there, but hopefully he finds a second place and has success.
Good luck to him. Hopefully he can figure out how to balance academics and football and get his career back on track
His fate was sealed with his choice of beverages.
So now Fort Scott Community College’s 2018 recruiting class is better than Indiana’s?
LOL. Fort Scott probably has a better recruiting class than MSU.
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