The recruit of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Edge Rusher David Walker has a torn ACL and will miss the season, confirmed coach Todd Bowles on Monday.
Walker, the choice of fourth round of the BUCs in this year’s draft, suffered the injury during the training on Friday.
The 6 -foot outside 2 inch and 260 pounds was to play a backup role at the start of the season behind Bucs starting the outdoor seconds Haason Reddick and Yaya Diaby.
“He had a big impact early,” said Bowles, according to the team’s website. “Obviously, we were counting on him doing a lot of things, but other guys will have to intensify. I told him that he had to look at this as a year of red shirt. It was unhappy. It didn’t seem to be too much on the film, but it ended up being that.”
Walker was triple All-American in the center of Arkansas and led the FCS with 23 plated for defeat last season. He recorded 10.5 bags last season and was appointed winner of the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best defensive player in the FCS.
Dan Graziano d’Espn contributed to this report.
