After growing up in Fayetteville, N.C., tucked away from the bright lights and commotion of a big city, Kenronte Walker is more of the introverted type.
This independent, keep-to-oneself modus operandi made Walker a bit of a lone wolf upon his initial arrival at Missouri after transferring from the City College of San Francisco, where he played junior college football.
“Where I’m from, it’s not nothing like this,” the senior strong safety said.
Walker came to Missouri very quiet, coach Gary Pinkel said. Walker was “checking the staff out,” trying to see if coaches were worthy of his trust.
“Can I trust coach Pinkel, can I trust the staff, can I trust the players?” Pinkel said as questions Walker was asking himself. “And for a few months or so, I think he was struggling with that a little bit.”
Pinkel said he noticed change.
“Finally, it develops like a family around here and some of the players said, ‘Yeah, you can trust coach Pinkel, you can trust (safeties) coach (Alex) Grinch, coach (Dave) Steckel, whoever,’” Pinkel said. “It’s neat to see how that developed with him as the months and months went on and to really mature as a young man.”
But Walker wasn’t just adjusting to new people in a new place. He was also adjusting to a new position. Walker requested to redshirt his first season in Columbia to help his transition from cornerback, which he played at his high school and junior college, to strong safety, where he currently starts after spending most of last season backing up Kenji Jackson.
By the time Grinch was hired onto Pinkel’s coaching staff, Walker had already become more trustworthy of others.
“From my standpoint, we hit the ground running when I came in here last January, and I’ve been nothing but pleased with him,” Grinch said.
And on Saturday night at Faurot Field, in front of 71,004 of his new neighbors with the game on the line, Walker was the hero for his Missouri football family, completing the on-field part of his transition in preserving the Tigers’ 24-20 lead not once, but twice. Down four, faced with a fourth-and-goal from the Missouri 3-yard-line, Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly hurled a pass toward the corner of the end zone, but Walker got a hand in to deflect the pass.
Two minutes later, with the Sun Devils again threatening after a Missouri three-and-out, Walker again saved the game, this time for good when he intercepted an overthrow by Kelly at the goal line.
The exceptional performance earned Walker Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors.
One of the first people to greet Walker on the sidelines after his interception?
Jackson, who is now a graduate assistant with the team.
Walker said having Jackson around as a mentor has helped him grow as a player, whether by motivating him or pointing out things he can do better.
“The little things people say to me, it gets to me,” Walker said. “I’m kind of the emotional type of person before and after the game, so anything anybody says to me that’s positive, I’m going to feel it.”
It was Jackson who spoke with Walker before kickoff last Saturday. And whatever he said worked.
“Just know he got my blood flowing and I already had a good feeling before the game,” Walker said, laughing.
With the help of Jackson, Walker is flourishing at Missouri in his new home and with his trusted new family.
“This team’s really, really important to him,” Pinkel said. “He’s really embraced this football team. You can tell that the last two years, and it’s just neat to see things like that happen to people like that.”