OWINGS MILLS — Wide receiver Devontez Walker is hoping he has found a long-term home with the Ravens.
After attending three colleges — North Carolina Central, Kent, and North Carolina — he is focused on becoming a productive player for the Ravens, who selected him in the fourth round of this year’s draft.
“Baltimore is a great organization to be a part of,” Walker said. “From what I’ve seen with the facilities and how everybody is around here; everybody loves it here. This is somewhere I wouldn’t mind retiring. It’s been great these past two [or] three days. This is somewhere I definitely want to be.”
Walker never played a snap at North Carolina Central in 2020 because the season was canceled by the Covid-19 pandemic. He transferred to Kent State in 2021 and finished the 2021 season with five receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown.
The following year, he had 58 receptions for 921 yards and 11 touchdowns and was named first-team All-MAC, but he left after the departure of head coach Sean Lewis.
He transferred to North Carolina but the NCAA initially denied his waiver to play under their new two-time transfer rule.
The NCAA eventually reversed the decision and he appeared in eight games, finishing with 41 receptions for 699 yards and seven touchdowns. Walker said that he would have stayed in school to finish his degree had he not been allowed to play last year.
“I thought my season was done, honestly,” Walker said. “I was on the scout team, [and] I was thinking, ‘I’m just trying to work on my craft.’ The whole year, I had no idea that I was going to play at all, and I was 50-50 on declaring for the draft. [I’d] probably be [undrafted] or coming back [to North Carolina]; I didn’t really know at that point, but that was pretty much my mindset.
“I didn’t think I was going to play at all, so I was pretty shocked when I got that call, when I was in Coach [Mack] Brown’s office in that video, and he told me I was going to play.”
Walker was challenged in the rookie camp by fellow draft picks Nate Wiggins and T.J. Tampa, both of whom are battling for starting jobs at cornerback.
“Walker] is a great player,” Wiggins said. “[He’s] a good player, [and] I’m a good player, so it was just like, I’ve got to bring my ‘A-game,’ [and] he’s got to bring his ‘A-game,’ and we’re going to see who’s going to win the battle.”
