FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas outside linebackers coach Chad Walker was so eager that he could barely stay behind the podium at his introductory news conference Tuesday.
Razorbacks coach Bret Bielema hired Walker just after he finished up a two-year stint as a defensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons, this year's NFC champion.
“I am extremely thankful for the opportunity that Coach B has given me here,” Walker said. “I have watched this program from afar with much respect.
“I have researched this and speaking to NFL people, I learned how respected he is.
“I am also extremely thankful to be working with Coach (Paul) Rhoads. I watched him first-hand when I was at the University of Oklahoma and watched how hard his guys and his teams played.”
Walker said he has family in Springdale and Fort Smith. He also attended LSU where he was a student assistant coach under Nick Saban, so he knows plenty about the Razorbacks.
“I have family here so I understood the passion and what it was like,” Walker said. “Every time they would come down I would see that passion. I really felt it this weekend when I was around.”
Bielema said Walker's name came up several times in inquiries about the vacancy on the Razorbacks' staff, but Atlanta’s success kept pushing the timetable back. Walker was one of the few names on separate lists made by Bielema and Paul Rhoads, Arkansas' defensive coordinator.
“He was brought up to me by several people when they knew we were making a transition,” Bielema said. “I knew (Atlanta) Coach (Dan) Quinn for a long time, so it was kind of a waiting game as they kept winning more and more games on their way to the Super Bowl. I had to keep waiting more and more, but he's a guy I really wanted to talk to.
“I'm glad we did hold out and wait, because it's been fun to get to know him. He's already back. He had his wife in town last week. They got a house and they're ready to rock and roll, so he's not afraid to make moves.
“He'll work with our outside linebackers and obviously (inside linebackers coach Vernon) Hargreaves will work with our two inside linebackers and Coach Rhoads will take the entire secondary as of right now with a couple of (graduate assistants) in the back to help him there as well.”
Walker said it was a quick turnaround from coaching in the Super Bowl to arriving in Arkansas. He was hired less than a week after the Falcons lost to the Patriots earlier this month.
“It was extremely quick,” Walker said. “I left the Super Bowl and flew back and there was a whole mix of emotions there. It was really tough and you find out what kind of competitor you are in terms of getting over that thing fast.
“So we flew back and I drove home that night and Coach B had given me a call. That was the first time. I wasn’t even considering moving. I never even thought about it.
“But when an opportunity arises like this, that is something you definitely have to pursue.”
Walker has had experience with the 3-4 defense to which Arkansas is switching this off-season, but doesn't label himself a 3-4 coach.
“I consider myself a football coach,” Walker said. “I think there are principles of team defense whether you go over and hug there football, schematics. I have been very fortunate to be in scheme possible I think at one tine or another. I have learned a lot of football.
“For me there are different figurations, but you’re just a football coach and we put our heads together and go from there.”
Walker was asked about what advantages the 3-4 allows a defense.
“You get more players in space and you definitely can get some edge rushers, guys that set the edge and you definitely get more bodies for pressure,” Walker said. “You can’t just say this guy is going to come.”
After graduating from LSU, Walker was a graduate assistant at Louisiana-Monroe and West Virginia before becoming a defensive quality control coach under Saban at LSU and then with the Miami Dolphins.
Walker said he is considers Saban a mentor.
“He gave me my first opportunity," Walker said. "I am very appreciative, very grateful that he helped aid my career along and opened doors. I have had a ton of mentors…there are a lot of guys out there that I have deep gratitude for.”