FSU Basketball: Seminoles Get Commitment From Five Star Recruit M.J. Walker

FSU Basketball’s 2017 recruiting class received a major bump late in the process, landing five-star shooting guard M.J. Walker.

For the third season in a row, FSU basketball has landed a five-star recruit — this time, in the form of M.J. Walker, a stud shooting guard out of Lithia Springs, GA (Jonesboro).

When reports came out saying he was planning on committing today, almost no one expected him to pick the Seminoles. Though he did appear to be an FSU lean early in the process, those inklings had all but vanished over recent months. Many pundits believed his final destination was going to be either UCLA or Virginia Tech.

Well, thankfully, they were wrong.

The 247 Sports composite rankings have Walker as a high four-star  — the 26th best player in the country and the No. 4 2-guard. (Though ESPN and Rivals, among other services, have him as a five-star.) He becomes the sixth member in Florida State’s 2017 recruiting class, which is now ranked 12th overall. Fun times!

What may be a little less fun, though, is figuring out how head coach Leonard Hamilton plans to make space for him on the roster.

The Seminoles lost five players from their successful 2016-17 team to attrition (two to graduation, three as early NBA departures). Their 2017 recruiting class now has six members. Common sense tells us we should expect to hear news on a transfer over the next few weeks. We won’t speculate on who, but there are a couple of solid candidates to make a switch this offseason.

Highlights

Five-star prospects get two highlight videos, those are the rules. So here’s another:

Fan reaction

Needless to say, FSU basketball fans were excited about the news.

https://twitter.com/willzminame/status/867411751226232836

https://twitter.com/DJCURTI5/status/867409015684423680

And finally, my personal favorite:

https://twitter.com/Terence_Huie/status/867410773512945665

Scouting report and final thoughts

Walker is listed at 6-foot-6, with solid length for a shooting guard at 6-foot-8. Though he’s a year older than most of the kids in his class (he’s 19), meaning his potential ceiling may not be as great, that also means he’s further along in his physical development.

Most prep stars are severely undersized heading into college, but Walker has a thick, filled-out frame and weighs in at just under 210 pounds.

The gurus over at Draft Express have a full breakdown on his game; here are some his strengths as a prospect, according to them:

• “Competitive, aggressive player on both ends of the floor. Makes an effort to sit down and defend. Will get on the floor for loose balls. High motor overall.”
• “Capable spot shooter with time and space. Can shoot on the move a little bit. Decent rise shooting in mid-range spots off screens. Can make a one-dribble pull up.”
• “Solid straight line driver vs hard closeouts or when run off the line. More powerful than explosive, but uses his size to finish above the rim in space at times.”

He’s got weaknesses too, of course; I recommend you click the link above if you want to get to know the newest Seminole even more closely.

Overall, it’s a great day to be an FSU Basketball fan. A third straight top-12 recruiting class is nothing to scoff at, especially for a program as resource-poor as Florida State’s.

Yes, Dwayne Bacon and Jonathan Isaac are gone, but the team is still going to be quite talented heading into 2017-18. A starting five of C.J. Walker, M.J. Walker, Terance Mann, fellow 2017 recruit Raquian Gray and Christ Koumadje should be a lot of fun to watch.

Next: Two FSU Basketball Stars In Multiple NBA Mock Drafts

Celebrate, Seminoles. Your team’s 2018 outlook got a bit better today.