Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/727077
By : Skip Myslenski (NUsports.com) 44 THE SKIP REPORT THE SKIP REPORT They Call Him "Ant" against Penn State, he led them with eight tackles and guaranteed their win with the pick six he took 49 yards for a score. That made him the Kid of the Moment, but now, in quick order, Ellis retired; Walker assumed his new role full time; and ultimately he was physically beaten down and his performances were a mixed bag. "Just being thrown in as a redshirt freshman woke me up a little bit," he said just weeks before the start of his sophomore season. "But now I know the grind. I know what it takes to be a great linebacker." He would prove that in the season opener against Stanford, ending that day with a team-high 10 tackles, and he would continue to prove it throughout the fall, ending it with those honors and as his team's leading tackler. Along the way, not unexpectedly, offenses paid him more attention than the Nittany Lions had in his debut. "A lot more because he made plays in every game," notes 'Cat defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz. "Now he's somebody they have to know where he's at. He does a lot of things well. He blitzes well. He plays the run well. He makes interceptions. He knows that people are going to be looking for him more and more. It's just part of the challenge he has to deal with." "I can't really speak for offensive coordinators," adds Walker himself. "But definitely, definitely, you have to come in there with a chip on your shoulder. You PART OF A MIGHTY LINE: Last year there was Ant-Man, the movie based on a superhero from the stable of Marvel Comics. Back in the '60s there was Atom Ant, a Hanna-Barbera creation who fought villains like Ferocious Flea while co-starring in a cartoon series alongside the mighty Secret Squirrel. Then there is Atomic Ant, the five-foot-four Sebastian Giovinco, a forward on Italy's national soccer team. Finally there is the Wildcats' Ant, the junior middle linebacker Anthony Walker, Jr., who ended last season as All-Big Ten and Second Team All-American. "I'm not afraid to make statements, and I think he has a chance to be the best we've ever had-- and we've had some pretty good ones," Pat Fitzgerald will say of him. "I don't say it unless I mean it, and I really feel he's got the potential to be that. Potential at times is a nasty word (because it implies a player has yet to accomplish anything). But he's already walked the walk. Now take the next step. Now you're going from a great player to a special player. I expect to see that from him." CENTER OF ATTENTION (and this is not always a good thing): With senior Collin Ellis recovering from a concussion, the 'Cats Ant made his first start on Sept. 27, 2014. That afternoon, in Happy Valley "I'm not afraid to make statements, and I think he has a chance to be the best we've ever had-- and we've had some pretty good ones." - Pat Fitzgerald -