Derrick Walker, the 6-foot-8 power forward from Sunrise Christian (OK) Academy, announced his commitment to Tennessee on Friday.
Proud and blessed to announce that I will be attending the university of Tennessee #SEC #volsnation pic.twitter.com/mhYN7m8gnK
— Derrick Walker (@derric__k) February 3, 2017
“I felt the program is moving in a great direction,” Walker told Scout.com. “Rick Barnes is a great coach and Rob Lanier did a great job of recruiting me, but also as a young team they showed accountability amongst themselves.”
Walker, who ran with MoKan Elite on the Nike EYBL circuit last year, chose Tennessee over St. John’s and Georgia. He joins 6-10 Blair (N.J.) Academy stretch four Zach Kent as the second commit in the Vols’ 2017 class.
Walker took an official to Tennessee last month (Jan. 2).
Walker took his final visit to St. John’s last weekend and was at Madison Square Garden Sunday night for the Red Storm’s 82-77 loss to Xavier.
The Johnnies were hoping to land Walker to bolster their frontcourt next season alongside former Sunrise Christian forward Marvin Clark Jr., who is sitting out this season after transferring from Michigan State.
St. John’s lost big man Yankuba Sima to transfer (Oklahoma State) and opted to part ways with 7-foot-1 Class of 2017 big man Zach Brown after his string of legal troubles.
