Quay Walker doing a hell of a job picking up the plays in Green Bay

Given his status as a first-round draft pick, former Georgia inside linebacker Quay Walker faces high expectations with the Green Bay Packers. It’s still early, but Walker has made it clear he’s willing to do what it takes to be a difference maker in the NFL.

On Wednesday, Packers.com digital Reporter Wes Hodkiewicz shared insight on Walker’s first summer as an NFL player as he looks to contribute to a Green Bay Squad boys to be a true Super Bowl contender. Part of those efforts included relaying defensive calls during the final week of organized team activities before the Packers broke for the summer, which caught the attention of the former first-round pick Rashan Gary.

Gary, who is Entering his fourth season with the Packers, described Walker as big, fast, strong and explosive. Gary has offered the rookie some friendly advice as he settles in, but he’s liked what he’s seen at this point in Walker’s career.

“One thing I challenged Quay with is you’re in the ‘backer spot, be confident; yell the calls,'” Gary told Hodkiewicz. “Because if you’re confident, we’re all confident. But he’s been doing a hell of a job picking up the plays.”

Walker went in depth with Hodkiewicz about his approach to playing linebacker and credited Green Bay teammate De’Vondre Campbell as being an excellent role model. Walker explained he studied the sixth-year NFL Veteran quite a bit in an attempt to learn how Campbell handles his business day in and day out.

Campbell shared his thoughts on Walker via Twitter by replying to a video during which Walker shared how much Campbell had influenced him.

“I try to help and give as much advice as I can, even though they don’t really need it,” Campbell wrote. [is] already a baller. Very smart young man with a great future ahead of him. “

Walker is hoping to make plays in Green Bay just as he did regularly in Athens.

Walker became a mainstay in defense for the Bulldogs over the course of the past four seasons and did his part to help Georgia make plenty of plays. He started at linebacker in all 15 games for the Bulldogs in 2021 and ended the season with 67 tackles – the third-most on the team – 25 quarterback pressures, 5.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Walker rose to the challenge in the College Football Playoff national title game. Walker recorded a team-high 8 tackles against Alabama to help the Bulldogs bring home their first Championship since 1980.

Walker left Georgia with 139 career tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.

Walker was a versatile defender for the Bulldogs and showed an innate ability to stop the run on one play and turn around and drop into coverage the next. Like Georgia teammate Nakobe Dean, Walker was fully capable of diagnosing plays quickly; that coupled with his reliable tackling set the stage for him to consistently make plays.