Baylor Football

Baylor Adds Experienced Center Yakiri Walker to Bolster Offensive Line

Bears add another offensive lineman to the fold
By Grayson Grundhoefer
January 16, 2026
9.4k Views
12 Comments
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Photo by @MemphisFootball

Memphis offensive lineman Yakiri Walker has committed to Baylor following his official visit on Jan 15. 

The 6-foot-2, 295-pound prospect started all 13 games for the Tigers this season while playing all 881 of his snaps at the center position.

He finished the season with a 60.1 offensive grade to go along with a 66.5 pass block grade and a 59.9 run block grade according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed 28 total pressures and four sacks on the season.

Memphis finished fifth in the American Conference in points per game (32.5) and sixth in rushing yards per game (183).

Walker spent the 2024 season at Colorado, where he played just three snaps the entire year. Prior to that, he was at Connecticut for three seasons; he started 12 games for the Huskies and played in 18 total games with 834 snaps.

Walker attended DeSoto High School and was a three-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class.

He has one year of eligibility remaining.

12 Comments
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offensive line Transfer Portal Austin Woods Center Yakari Walker Football Football Recruiting Baylor Connecticut Memphis
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Baylor Adds Experienced Center Yakiri Walker to Bolster Offensive Line

5,953 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by Dia del DougO
Dia del DougO
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5:11p, 1/16/26
Groovy!
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."
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Delmar 2.0
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5:14p, 1/16/26
W
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LadyBear91
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5:24p, 1/16/26
Ooh. This is good.
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ImABearToo
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5:36p, 1/16/26
A "One and done" but we need a 2026 OL badly.
“Life is short, eat desert first!”
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Dukebear11
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5:37p, 1/16/26
When all this is over I hope all the people who worked so hard to put together a hugely interesting 2026 pre-season can take a huge break u til the start of fall practice. This is the first year of the California golf rush and hope we hit it big! We thank you all!!
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boognish_bear
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In reply to ImABearToo • 5:49p, 1/16/26
ImABearToo said:
A "One and done" but we need a 2026 OL badly.


Kind of feels like almost all players on a team at Baylor's level are kind of "one and dones" now. If someone comes here and has a great year it's unlikely we will be able to hold on to them.

If they come here and underperform we are likely to move on from them.

I guess the long term keepers are the middle of the road players.
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Youre a clown
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6:08p, 1/16/26
undersized player, and that's not exactly a stellar blocking grade.
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william
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7:01p, 1/16/26
wooooo!
pro ecclesia, pro javelina
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bear2be2
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In reply to Youre a clown • 7:09p, 1/16/26
Youre a clown said:
undersized player, and that's not exactly a stellar blocking grade.
He started all year for a Memphis team that was better than us last year.

This is likely the best we could hope for at that position.
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Youre a clown
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In reply to bear2be2 • 7:27p, 1/16/26
bear2be2 said:
Youre a clown said:
undersized player, and that's not exactly a stellar blocking grade.
He started all year for a Memphis team that was better than us last year.

This is likely the best we could hope for at that position.


Lagway is going to be running for his life; i'm willing to give credit where credit is due, but our offensive line additions as a whole haven't moved the needle much
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KIA
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7:34p, 1/16/26
We lost all OL starters and replaced them with 1-2 starters and some depth pieces.
We don't have the roster we had last year, will have a much tougher schedule, but kept most of our coaching staff.
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Dia del DougO
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9:23p, 1/16/26
That's why I said Baylor should money-whip the best OL they can get and get a cheaper qb later.

But that doesn't align with arandalytics.

Still a little time, so maybe...
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."
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