The Return of Charles Walker

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has an article on the return of Charles Walker from a medical redshirt.

Walker has been moved to middle linebacker in Brown's base defense. I always remember Walker's monster game against Delaware in 2004. That was Brown's first year at UMass and, if I remember right, UMass went into Spring Ball with only 14 scholarship players on defense. Defensive linemen were particularly scarce.

By the Delaware game we had a couple of injuries on the line. Walker's performance is not remembered because we lost the game 21-7. However the game was tied 7-7 going into the fourth quarter before the UMass defense finally wore down.

Walker stats for that game were: 14UT, 9At, 23 TT, 2 TFL, 2 Sacks. The 23 tackles tied an all-time UMass single game record.

Walker's return will move Jason Hatchell Jr. 6-0 224 outside. Jason had a breakout year in 2005 with 46UT, 65 At, 111TT 1 Sack 4 TFL 1 PBU. He finished 8th in the A10 for total tackles.

Returning at the third linebacker post will be Brad Anderson, Sr. 6-0 230. Anderson spent one year at Vanderbilt before transferring to UMass. Anderson's stats in 2005 were: 17UT,45AT, 62TT, 3.5 Sacks, 9-35 TFL, 2 PBU