Walker leaves UT, other camp notes

Sophomore running back Jake Walker will be leaving the UT football program this season to transfer to Eastern Illinois.

"Jake did a good job for us and I hate to see him leave," UT head coach Tim Beckman said. "He just made the decision to leave, and he will be good at Eastern Illinois. He's a great kid, we love him, but he just wanted to make a decision he thought was best for him at the time."

Walker posted on his Facebook page the day of his transfer "I hate when people try to stand in front of your dreamz.....but little do they know God has a plan for me....." and "Sometimes we all have to make hard decisionz to protect ourselves."

The 5-11, 210 pound sophomore from Delray Beach, Fla. ran for 67 yards on 16 carries in his rookie season in 2008. He rushed seven times for 18 yards in a game last season against Purdue but sat out the rest of the year and was redshirted.

Walker was listed third on Toledo's most recent depth chart before his departure behind juniors Morgan Williams and Adonis Thomas.

Incoming freshman David Fluellen now holds the third-string job on the new depth chart that Walker vacated.

"He's had a great camp and had a great scrimmage on Saturday," Beckman said. "He's more mature than most freshmen. He plays on special teams and carries the football for us. We've got a great group of running backs now with Adonis Thomas, Morgan Williams, Darius Reeves, Johnnie Bush and Fluellen's now involved in that. We've got five guys that can be pretty good."

Another surprise on the most recently released UT depth chart was senior defensive end Douglas Westbrook, a starter in all 12 games last season, listed fifth at his position. Westbrook has played in 37 games in the last four years.

"T.J. Fatinikun's been playing pretty good and that's kind of the situation right now," Beckman said. "Terrell Willis has had a good camp for us and so has Jayrone Elliott."

Beckman also said that sophomore cornerback Daxton Swanson, who recently left the program, has gone back to his home state of Texas. Swanson started nine of 10 games last season.

"I don't even know if he's playing [football]," Beckman said. "He did a good job for us last year."