FAYETTEVILLE — Jamil Walker has worked with the Arkansas football team for only a short period of time, but he has already made quite the impression.
Walker, the Razorbacks’ new director of strength and conditioning who followed Sam Pittman from Georgia to Fayetteville this winter, was officially brought aboard Jan. 17 after three seasons serving as the Bulldogs’ associate strength and conditioning coach.
A former Wisconsin football player who later joined the Badgers’ strength staff in 2009, Walker has received positive reviews following the team’s winter conditioning and the first week of voluntary on-campus workouts.
On Feb. 5, Pittman said Arkansas “hit the jackpot” with Walker and his staff, which also includes Ed Ellis, the senior associate director of strength and conditioning at Georgia the previous four seasons. It appears players believe the same.
“I think he does a great job of involving every single player,” graduate-transfer quarterback Feleipe Franks said. “There’s not any one point where a player feels like they’re too far from a group in a workout. He does a good job of involving us all and pushing to their limit.”
Franks, recovering from a lower-leg injury that abruptly ended his 2019 season after his third game at Florida, said Walker has done a great job shaping his body and legs to this point.
“He just does a great job taking care of the players,” said Franks, who has passed for more than 4,500 yards in his career. “I love him. I think he does a great job here.”
Junior safety Joe Foucha was unable to take part in the Razorbacks’ first week of voluntary workouts that began on June 8 because he was quarantined after returning from New Orleans, considered a hotspot for covid-19. Despite missing out last week, Foucha was still plugged in.
Teammates kept him up to date on the workouts, informing him of the hour-long lifts and running. He returned Monday, eager as ever to get back to work with Walker.
“Right before we left, the workouts were fun,” Foucha said. “I mean, they were hard, but I was having fun at the same time. When you’re having fun, you don’t really pay attention to the fatigue part of it.
“The work he’s put in since he’s been here, it’s tremendous how our bodies and our arms changed. It’s amazing.”
After having surgery on an injured shoulder in December, Foucha came back toward the end of the Razorbacks’ winter work. He participated only in the running sessions. But even in that time, the safety said his form changed tremendously, too.
He said Walker is laid back.
“He understands. He knows how it feels when someone is giving it their all,” Foucha noted. “He’s like, ‘I know you’re putting in work. I don’t want you to be hurt. Don’t overdo it.’ That’s how I think it should be, because at the end of the day we all have human bodies. By him doing that, I’ve learned a lot from him.
“The only time he does the screaming and yelling is when he has to, and that’s rare. He’ll snap on you if you’re not going 100 percent. He told us to do that as well.”
In a video posted to the Razorback football Twitter account on June 4, Walker said strength and conditioning coaches must be able to develop relationships with players and reach them in ways others can’t. They are ultimately responsible for players’ development.
It all begins with building relationships. Wide receiver Trey Knox said it wasn't unusual for a strength coach to jump in and play video games with players during the time away from campus.
“It’s something I have never taken lightly,” Walker said. “We like to get to know our guys. When I see guys, I want to ask them questions (like), ‘How are you? How’s your family?’ I want to know the other aspects of their life.
“My staff and myself, we’re constantly talking to these guys outside of what they do on a daily basis.”
That is not lost on Montaric Brown, the redshirt junior cornerback from Ashdown who is working his way back from sports hernia surgery in January.
“They care, they talk to my family all the time and make sure everything is good,” Brown said. “They care outside of football. Everything is not about football.”
Brown, a defensive back who prides himself on physicality, is a fan of Walker’s personality and the results he is getting from the training. As a freshman, Brown said he arrived on campus at 173 pounds. He is currently at 195 after adding eight pounds this offseason.
He knows he is not only getting faster, but stronger, too.
“The energy he brings (stands out). I love the energy,” Brown said. “He gives us talks and motivation, and I love that, you know? He builds a bond, a relationship. That’s my guy.
“Everything is crazy. My body has changed a lot since he arrived. I’m just trying to stay improving.”
In the June 4 video, Walker said players have grown mentally and physically at a high rate. He has seen a good deal of passion from players in the weight room and a drive to be better.
That is the goal after back-to-back 10-loss seasons.
“If you can compose a team where the majority of those guys are driven by that championship mindset, you’re talking about having a team of guys that are constantly getting after it together, constantly pushing each other in high levels of competition,” Walker said. “And I believe that carries over directly to your performance on Saturdays, because you’re more prepared.
“Every single day these guys come in this room, they give a max effort. They give everything they’ve got.”