Wisconsin Football Goes Portaling, Adds Oklahoma Transfer Running Back

Head coach Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers football program weren’t willing to risk letting the injury bug it had in the running back room hamper their offense again in 2024.

After hosting Tawee Walker on an official visit to Madison two weeks ago, the team bolstered its running back depth on Friday night when the Oklahoma transfer announced his commitment to the Wisconsin Badgers.

#whynotwisconsin ❤️‍🔥 pic.twitter.com/uDvJjnZrTA

— Tawee Walker (@RMBwee) December 30, 2023

The 5-foot-9, 215-pound Las Vegas native left the junior college ranks to join Oklahoma as a walk-on in the spring of 2022. In the recent season, he amassed 513 rushing yards and scored seven times for the Sooners. Walker also caught 10 passes out of the backfield for 81 yards.

Oklahoma RB Tawee Walker hit this man like he owes him money. pic.twitter.com/X4tMT80jCq

— RJ Young (@RJ_Young) September 23, 2023

Walker joins the Wisconsin football team with one year of eligibility.

Wisconsin Football Adds RB Tawee Walker From the Transfer Portal

Even though Chez Mellusi announced that he’d return to the Wisconsin football program next season, the Badgers staff felt that adding an experienced option like Tawee Walker as a 1B was the best choice.

Walker finished with a Pro Football Focus grade of 83.3, which is considered high quality, and accumulated 302 of his 513 yards after contact. He also accounted for 11 runs of 10+ yards for the Sooners.

Coming out of high school, Walker was a lightly recruited safety and attended a post-graduate football institution for a year before taking a break from the sport. He returned in 2021 at Palomar Junior College, where he broke out, surpassing 1,000 rushing yards and catching the eye of several FCS and Group of 5 programs.

When DeMarco Murray extended the opportunity to walk on at Oklahoma, Walker committed to the Sooners without even visiting the school. Now, he’ll be on scholarship with the Badgers for his final season in college.

He joins a Wisconsin football running back room that also has Mellusi, Jackson Acker, Cade Yacamelli, Nate White, and a trio of talented freshmen from the 2024 recruiting class in Dilin Jones, Darrion Dupree, and Gideon Ituka.

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