Football Is A Family Affair For Walker Parks
At an early age, Walker Parks knew what he wanted and fortunately for him, his father had a unique understanding of what it would take for him to get it.
“He’s always wanted to play football at the next level, so he was always committed to being the best at that,” David Parks says of his son, who is a standout offensive lineman from Kentucky in the Class 2020.
“The biggest thing we’ve talked about is that nothing is given, everything is earned,” Parks continues. “If you think somebody is going to give you something because of who you are or where you’re at, you’re in the wrong place. Everything has to be earned and that’s earned through hard work, commitment and dedication. We have a no-half-assed policy in our house. If you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it all out.”
David Parks knows from experience, having played offensive line for the University of Kentucky in the 1990s.
“I was a little bit undersized, especially playing in the SEC, so I became more of a technician,” he explains. “I knew where my feet and hands were all of the time.”
He would coach Walker and his older son, Graham, at Lexington Christian Academy up until this season, with Graham now at Centre College and Walker having transferred to Frederick Douglass High School.
Mr. Parks was always sure to drill down on the technical aspect of the game.
“That’s what I see, so both of them have grown up around that,” he says. “I’m watching your feet, watching how you’re coming off the ball versus did you block the guy or not. You might have blocked him, but did you do it the right way?
“They hate watching NFL games with me because I’ll use the stop-and-rewind function to show them technique, ‘Watch what they’re doing here. Look at how they’re coming off this combo block.’ I’ll show them where their hands are and how they use leverage. It takes hours to watch it, so it’s not necessarily fun for them.”
Mr. Parks would tape Walker’s games as a youngster and go through the same process.
“He was always one of the bigger kids on the team, so that led him to do well, especially at a young age,” his father remembers. “That fostered his leadership potential. Other kids were following him because of his size and his personality. It manifested itself and he’s taken that and really grown on it exponentially, not only in how he plays, but how he carries himself off the field.”
Walker was also exposed to some people who played the game at the highest level.
“A couple of my buddies played in the NFL, so he’s grown up around that,” he continues. “Walker started from a very young age getting taught technique and where to put your body and where to put your head and how to move your feet because the people around him spoke from experience. It became something that was second nature to him, so that may have been an advantage over some kids who maybe don’t have that kind of guidance. He’s had that kind of language forever.”
Walker may not always enjoy the film sessions, but he definitely enjoys the work.
“We have a weight room in our basement and we have a back yard where he’ll go and put hoops down and run drills on his own,” David Parks says. “I’ll come home and he’ll be in the yard just working. Working on his footwork and doing what he needs to do because he wants to maintain that edge. You don't coach that, it's just what he does.”
Within a matter of months, that edge has gone from trying to earn opportunities to trying to prove the opportunities he’s earned are justified.
Shortly after the end of his sophomore season, the 6-foot-5, 255-pounder added offers from Kentucky, Northwestern and Louisville. As spring rolled around, he picked up Cincinnati and Vanderbilt and during the summer, things really took off with Notre Dame, Clemson and Virginia Tech extending offers.
“He feels – and I feel the same way – that it’s an honor,” David Parks says. “A place like Notre Dame, for example, to put trust and belief that, ‘Hey, you can play here and contribute to this team.’ That’s pretty special.”
Recruiting has changed a ton over the last couple decades since Mr. Parks went through the process.
“Back in my day, you didn’t have the internet, so there was no Twitter, there was no way to instantly connect with coaches or schools or programs,” he explains. “There were football camps, but they were more school specific. There wasn’t FBU or Nike or any of that stuff. I’d get a letter in the mail from a school saying, ‘Hey, we’re interested in you.’ Maybe sometimes a coach would come by and take a look and then you’d narrow it down where you wanted to go.”
And being from rural Georgia, it was mostly driven by geography.
“You’d say, ‘What’s close? What’s within driving distance for the family?’” he continues. “I was recruited by Stanford and that was a world away to me then. It’s a lot different now."
“I told Walker, it’s up to him. It’s where he feels comfortable and the program that suits him. It doesn’t matter to us because we can drive anywhere or do whatever we need to do. It’s more of what’s the right fit for him.”
David Parks and his wife, Beth, feel blessed to have the kids they have.
“They’ve both been extremely good kids all of the way throughout,” he says. “They just take care of business. It’s really nice. We’ve been blessed because they’ve been really good; they are both very mature and respectful.”
Mr. Parks calls Graham, “the Brainiac.”
“He’s going to be a doctor or something that impacts people, whatever he wants to do,” he adds. “He has incredible focus and a good heart and wants to do something where he can help people”
He’s also preparing to play his first season of college ball at Centre, a Division III program in Kentucky known as one of the top academic schools in the region.
“He’s a big kid, he’s 6-5 and he’s a good athlete, moves well and has a nice mean streak - he's a competitor,” his father says. "He played with the second team in his first scrimmage and held his own with the older guys. We're very excited for him."
Walker does fine for himself in the classroom as well.
“I think he’s got a 3.8 overall GPA now, I think he was a 4.0 last year,” his father says. “He’s committed in the classroom and he’s an extremely polite and respectful kid."
“He doesn’t take anything for granted now that he’s gotten to this point and is getting offers, that’s just the beginning.”
This is just the beginning, but it’s taken a lot of hard work, commitment and dedication to get here.