Duwan Walker enters his second season on the South Alabama staff working with defensive backs, and his third year with the program since his hiring in March 2008.
Members of Walker’s secondary found multiple ways to contribute to a defensive unit that gave up less than 235 yards per game as well as just 41 total points as the Jaguars finished their inaugural season 7-0. USA defensive backs accounted for all but one of the team’s 14 interceptions — returning two of those for touchdowns — broke up seven other pass attempts, forced two fumbles and recovered another pair. Four members of Walker’s unit posted at least 20 tackles, while another two reached double figures in the category.
Walker spent the previous nine years prior to his arrival in Mobile as an assistant at Prattville High School, where he coached under current USA defensive coordinator Bill Clark. At PHS, he worked for two years as defensive backs coach before being elevated to defensive coordinator in 2001. During that time, he helped the school advance to the state 6A playoffs on eight occasions, three state championship games and the state title in each of his last two seasons on the staff. Overall, the Lions would go 107-11 (90.7%) during his tenure with the program — that included winning every regular-season contest from the third week of the 2002 campaign through the end of his time at PHS.
The Lions first advanced to postseason action in his second year on the staff, and they picked up their first playoff victory during his tenure a year later after advancing to the quarterfinals before falling to the eventual state champions. PHS would again move on to the final eight in 2002 and ’03, then made the state championship game for the first occasion while he was on the staff in 2004.
After another quarterfinal appearance the next fall, Walker helped guide the Lions to the state 6A championship in both 2006 and ’07. They won 30 straight games during that span, finishing second in the country in the USA Today’s national high school poll his last season with the school.
He gained his start in the coaching profession as a graduate assistant at Troy beginning in 1997, working with the defensive line for one season before helping defensive backs the next. In his second season on the staff, Walker helped the Trojans to an 8-4 finish and a berth in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs — that included going 5-2 in the Southland Football League.
A four-year letterman at Troy from 1992-95, Walker played as a true freshman, primarily on special teams. He spot-started at safety as a sophomore before moving into the No. 1 spot on the depth chart for his junior and senior seasons. During his time at Troy, the Trojans competed as an NCAA Division I-AA independent, reaching the semifinals of the playoffs in 1993 while also participating in the event in both 1994 and ’95. The school would go 41-7-1 (84.7%) overall during his career, winning 10 or more games while losing just once in three of those years.
Walker earned a bachelor’s degree in human services with a double minor in psychology and biology from Troy in 1996, and he received his master’s degree in counseling from the school in 2001. He and his wife Kaylyn have three children, Durelle (20), Christian (7) and Caden (5).
The Walker File
Born: Oct. 9, 1973, in Cairo, Ga.
Education:
Troy ’96, bachelor’s degree in human services (minors in psychology and biology)
Troy ’01, master’s degree in counseling
Collegiate Playing Experience:
Four years, defensive back, Troy
Coaching Experience:
Troy — graduate assistant, 1997-98
Prattville [Ala.] HS — assistant coach, 1999-07
South Alabama — assistant coach, 2008-
Family: Wife, Kaylyn; Three sons, Durelle (20), Christian (7) and Caden (5)
