Defensive tackle Josh Walker picks Arizona Wildcats over Notre Dame, ASU, others

Arizona has reeled in its ninth recruit for 2018, and he's a big one. 

Tuesday, defensive tackle Josh Walker announced his verbal commitment to Arizona's 2018 recruiting class.

As part of a long message posted to Twitter, Walker said "I've decided to become a 'West Coast Wildcat' at the University of Arizona" and mentioned that UA coach Rich Rodriguez and defensive line coach Vince Amey provided him with the feeling of "family" he was looking for, which sealed the deal.

He ended the note with: "this is my decision and I stand by it 100 percent."

pic.twitter.com/AeXvNvhiLa

— Josh Walker (@walkerj5515) August 1, 2017

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The 6-foot-2-inch, 285-pound lineman hails from the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida. The Scout.com recruiting service rates Walker as a three-star recruit, the 78th-best defensive tackle in the nation, No. 27 in the South and No. 4 in Florida.  He is Arizona's highest-rated 2018 commit by Scout.com. 

Walker is the most highly sought after recruit to join Arizona's class for next year so far, holding offers from 40 schools, including Notre Dame, UCLA, Nebraska, Michigan State, Mississippi State and West Virginia. It's a particularly interesting commitment considering that on July 27, Walker told Scout.com that his final three schools were Arizona State, Wake Forest and Minnesota. 

Five players committed to Arizona's nine-person 2018 class project as defensive players in college, including Walker, safety Jhevon Hill, inside linebacker Issaiah Johnson, safety Jaiden Dockery and safety Armani Adams. 

Arizona certainly can use all the help on the defensive line it can get. The Wildcats will lose two key seniors — Parker Zellers and Luca Bruno — after this season, as well as defensive line/outside linebacker hybrids Jack Banda and DeAndre' Miller. Outside of those four, Larry Tharpe Jr., Justin Belknap and Finton Connolly are the only remaining linemen with significant playing experience, and the first two are either current (Tharpe) or former (Belknap) walk-ons. 

The Wildcats had expected to add USC transfer defensive lineman Noah Jefferson to its roster this year, making him eligible to play beginning in 2018 — he'd have sat out the 2017 season due to transfer rules — but that ultimately didn't pan out.