Kentucky defensive lineman Deone Walker received national recognition throughout the college football community when he was named one of the semifinalists in consideration for this year’s Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award. Now in its fifth season in existence, Shaun Alexander’s namesake trophy is awarded to–you guessed it–the best freshman in college football each year. Its list of past winners is Brock Bowers (Georgia, 2021), Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama, 2020), Kenneth Gainwell (Memphis, 2019) and Trevor Lawrence (Clemson, 2018).
This year, Kentucky’s Walker is one of 14 semifinalists for the award for his play in all eight of Kentucky’s games to date.