The Daily Nole

Commitment Analysis: M.J. Walker

Sam Forencich/Getty Images

Florida State made a huge splash last Wednesday as the Seminoles landed 4-star guard M.J. Walker, out of Jonesboro, Georgia, to complete their 2017 hoops recruiting class.

Walker, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, is among the nation’s five best shooting guard and 30 best overall players. Walker, a McDonald’s All-American, is listed as a 6-5, 205-pound prospect and is the top member of an FSU recruiting class that ranks in the top 15 nationally.

What he brings: This section might be shorter if it asked what Walker didn’t bring. Walker is a stellar athlete who is fearless attacking the basket and finishing at the rim. Walker will bring a scorer’s mentality to Tallahassee and can get his points in a number of ways.

Looking at the tape on Walker, he’s a silky smooth performer who has a pretty shooting stroke and seems to get to where he wants on the court with relative ease. Though Walker is a natural scorer, he has decent court vision and is relatively selfless. Walker will also come to Tallahassee with a Division I body. The biggest question with Walker seems to be how he will defend at the next level.

How he fits: Walker is probably a starter for FSU from the first day and will probably be among the team’s top scorers from the moment he puts a uniform on. With Dwayne Bacon, Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jonathan Isaac all off to the NBA, the question for the Seminoles heading into the 2017-18 season was where their points were going to come from. Walker will be a big answer to that question.

For the 2017-18 season, FSU looks to have decent depth at shooting guard with Walker and Anthony Polite coming in and Trent Forrest, Braian Angola-Rodas and P.J. Savoy returning. The good news for players at that position is there is also good size and many of the listed guards will spend time together on the court.

Polite, Angola-Rodas and Forrest have the potential to fill in at a point guard position that will probably belong to sophomore C.J. Walker. M.J. Walker, Angola-Rodas and Forrest are all big enough to spend time at small forward as well. Expect Walker to spend the majority of his minutes playing off the ball.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply