A familiar name to Florida’s coaching staff hit the transfer portal on Wednesday as forward CJ Walker announced he’d be leaving the Oregon Ducks after his freshman year.
The name CJ Walker might be familiar to you and for good reason—the Gators aggressively pursued him throughout his high school career and were considered to be one of the favorites until ultimately they didn’t have the scholarship space. Walker was content to take his recruitment until late in the process and the Gators, a team who doesn’t want to take the risk of holding a scholarship late into the recruiting cycle and potentially miss on other players, held off. Even though Florida’s filled class made it that Walker wasn’t able to commit there was definitely a lot of interest on both sides and for that reason the Gators have to be in the mix at least to some extent now that he’s in the transfer portal.
Walker was a 5-star recruit ranked 28th in the class of 2019. Playing with Tre Mann for E1T1 on the Nike AAU circuit the Gators class tirelessly recruited both of them.
In his lone year at Oregon, Walker was seldom-used, only playing 15 minutes per game on a team with veteran forwards playing in front of him. In those minutes he averaged 4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, numbers that don’t really speak to his style of play. Walker is a tireless worker with a motor that’s unmatched by just about any college player. Extremely athletic at 6’8” he’s a fantastic rebounder and shot blocker and is known as an elite glue guy. His game needs polishing on the offensive end but his defensive play and hustle are enough to make him a valuable player and with three years of eligibility remaining the sky is limit for him.
In terms of chances of him being interested in Florida, get this…
In his statement on Twitter regarding the transfer, Walker said this:
“There is so much uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, the upcoming season, and even if one will be played next year. I have decided the best decision I can make for both my mental and physical health is to return home to be close to my family and support system, to continue to train and work at becoming the best person and basketball player I can be, to get back to a positive and healthy mindset, and to keep working towards my ultimate goal of becoming an NBA player one day.”
Walker is from Sanford, Florida and being an in-state school means the Gators have to be one of the schools Walker is considering. When the Gators bowed out of his recruitment Miami was one of the three programs remaining but with the way Florida and Walker had mutual interest there is definitely a chance for the Gators here.
Currently the Gators are maxed out from a scholarship standpoint and don’t have room for Walker but to put it politely, if they really want him they will make space. Mike White hasn’t been known to be someone to push players out but there hasn’t been a situation like this is the past and there is a chance a player would mutually decide to go elsewhere.
The NCAA has already approved multiple waivers for players who transfer from across the country to go home and for that reason if Walker did go to the Gators it’s almost certain he’d be immediately eligible. Between Keyontae Johnson, Scottie Lewis, Anthony Duruji and incoming recruits Samson Ruzhentsev and Niels Lane the Gators have a good amount of bodies at the 3-4 positions but someone of Walker’s talent would always be welcomed.
This will definitely be a situation to watch in the coming days so keep it locked to Gator Country for all your CJ Walker news.