| Ole Miss Rebels–No. 2 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Defensive tackle |
| Class | Junior |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | October 14, 2003 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Weight | 296 lb (134 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | |
| Bowl games | |
| High school | Powell (Powell, Tennessee) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Walter Nolen III (born October 14, 2003) is an American football defensive tackle. He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies and Ole Miss Rebels, earning consensus All-American honors with the latter in 2024.
Nolen played high school football at three different schools: Olive Branch High School in Olive Branch, Mississippi, as a freshman and sophomore; Saint Benedict at Auburndale in Memphis as a junior; and Powell High School in Powell, Tennessee, as a senior. He also enrolled for a time at IMG Academy but did not play there. [1] His coach at Powell, Matt Lowe, described him as "a young man who has been blessed with size, speed and athleticism." [2]
In his senior year at Powell, he had 93 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, 27 quarterback hurries, and 17 sacks. [3] He was rated by ESPN as the No. 1 football recruit in the 2022 recruiting class. [4] He was ranked No. 2 by Rivals.com and 247Sports, behind Travis Hunter. [3] [5]
After his senior year, he was invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Game. [3] He was named USA Today High School Defensive Football Player of the Year and was rated as the country's top recruit of the 2022 class by the same publication. [6]
Nolen received offers from numerous schools and narrowed his final five to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee. [1] In November 2021, Nolen committed to play college football for Texas A&M. [7] He later paid an official visit to Tennessee, raising speculation that his commitment was uncertain. He then signed his letter of intent with Texas A&M in December 2021. [8] [9] He was part of a recruiting class at Texas A&M that was rated as the best in the history of recruiting rankings. [10]
On December 24, 2023, Nolen announced he would transfer to Ole Miss. [11] At the conclusion of the 2024 season, Nolen was named a consensus first team All-American. [12]
| Season | GP | Tackles | Fumbles | Interceptions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | FF | FR | Yds | TD | Int | Yds | TD | PD | ||||
| Texas A&M Aggies | |||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 10 | 29 | 17 | 12 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2023 | 12 | 37 | 20 | 17 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Ole Miss Rebels | |||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 13 | 48 | 25 | 23 | 6.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Career | 35 | 114 | 62 | 52 | 11.5 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3+3⁄4 in (1.92 m) | 296 lb (134 kg) | 32+1⁄2 in (0.83 m) | 9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m) | |||||||||
| All values from NFL Combine [13] [14] [15] | ||||||||||||