Jalon Walker
Title:
Linebacker
Major:
Communication Studies
Year:
Class of 2025
Hometown:
Salisbury, NC
Jalon Walker believes that being a leader starts with authenticity.
“It’s about being original, being the person you are, displaying the best version of yourself,” says Walker, a junior linebacker for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Walker, the leader in sacks for the team in 2023, knows this is his year to shine as a leader for his team.
There have been plenty of opportunities for him to observe leadership from the likes of Head Coach Kirby Smart and former Bulldogs linebacker Nolan Smith.
But his first lessons in leadership started much earlier.
Walker’s father, Curtis Walker, is the former head coach of Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, and now coaches a high school team. Walker and his brother, Deuce (a freshman defensive back for Georgia State), grew up watching their dad work with his team on the sidelines and in the locker room.
It made a lasting impression.
Coaches note that Walker leads by example, taking game preparation very seriously and bringing intensity even to mundane exercises like a walkthrough practice, where players literally go through the motions of plays without any physical contact.
Bulldogs Head Coach Kirby Smart remarked on that commitment after a standout game against the Florida Gators in 2023, when Walker had a sack and a forced fumble in Jacksonville.
“You’re not going to find a higher quality kid in any organization than Jalon,” he said. “He is unbelievable in what he stands for and what he represents and how he works.”
It’s about being original, being the person you are, displaying the best version of yourself.
Jalon Walker
Linebacker
Walker brings his values of leadership and hard work with him off the field and away from the locker room.
This summer, he was chosen to represent the Bulldogs on the Southeastern Conference Football Leadership Council to provide a student-athlete’s perspective to SEC officials. He’s also lending his voice to SEC Network commercials this fall, his second year doing voiceover work for the network.
“The term ‘student-athlete’ is very strong to me and my family,” Walker says. He emphasizes that “student” is the first word in that phrase and that it has to come first in his priorities. Walker and his brother learned early, he says, the importance of keeping good grades—not just to play sports but also to succeed long-term.
Even though Walker has been very successful on the field and aspires to play in the NFL, he’s also keeping an eye on what comes after football.
He chose to study communication studies at UGA because he believes being an effective communicator is needed in any field, especially in the business world.
“Once football is all said and done,” he says, “I’ll be in that business world ready to promote whatever I’m doing or be a part of whatever business I’m in.”
