Why Wisconsin football needs Corey Walker to be a 'difference-maker' on defense
Wisconsin edge rusher Corey Walker brings size, power, and experience to a reshaped Badgers' defensive front in 2025 after a major overhaul.
If you’ve been around this Wisconsin football program at all in 2025, you’ve probably heard a lot of talk about getting bigger up front. That’s not just a catchphrase. It’s been the focal point of Luke Fickell and Mike Tressel’s offseason plan to fix a defense that ranked 91st in rushing yards allowed, 128th in havoc rate, and dead last nationally in tackles for loss a season ago.
Enter Corey Walker, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound transfer from Western Michigan who looks every bit like a prototype for this new systematic approach. Tressel plans to use Walker as a jumbo edge, an outside linebacker by position, but with the frame and strength to anchor against the run, set a hard edge, and still give you some juice as a pass rusher.
Walker didn’t show up as that guy right away. He's gained roughly 20 pounds since arriving in Madison, part of a broader trend where the Badgers coaching staff also brought in Parker Petersen, Jay’Viar Suggs, Charles Perkins, and Micheal Garner to overhaul the defensive front. In addition, returning guys like Ben Barten, Brandon Lane, and Dillan Johnson have also packed on weight to better hold up in the Big Ten.
“Our edge players have their hands in the dirt a lot more, and our edge players are bigger,” Tressel said during spring practice. “Those are both things we needed to adjust beyond the scheme.”
Walker’s résumé backs up the vision. In 2024, he started 11 games for Western Michigan, piling up 38 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 27 pressures, and a team-high 5.5 sacks across 478 defensive snaps. His best performance? A career day against Central Michigan with seven tackles, three TFLs, and two sacks. PFF graded him out as a 75.8 overall, with strong marks against both the run (74.9) and the pass (73.8).
"Corey Walker is the fastest guy I've ever seen run at 290 pounds," Barten said. "The way he can move gives me a lot of confidence on our edges."
Over 32 career games with the Broncos, Walker recorded 70 total tackles, 15 TFLs, eight sacks, nine pass breakups, and 53 quarterback pressures.
Fickell didn’t get to see all of that right away this fall. Walker had shown signs of being an instant impact guy in spring practice and laid claim to a starting spot. But he opened camp with a tight back, forcing the staff to take a measured approach before he could build on that momentum.
"He's a really good football player," Fickell said. “We reminded him, we know you’ve played a lot of football. You’re not an 18- or 19-year-old guy that we really need to push and test to see how tough you are. So we had to be smart with him in those first few days. But this last week, he’s really been grinding through. Tonight was probably one of the first nights where he’s looked himself, and he can be a difference-maker for us.
"There’s some real depth in that line with Darryl Peterson and those guys. That’s maybe one of the areas that I’m as excited about as anything."