No. 24: Bracey Walker

No. 24

Name: Bracey Walker

Position: Safety

Jersey #: 27

Years: 1990-93

Honors: 1993 1st-team All-America; 2-time All-ACC, 1993 1st-team All-ACC; 1993 National Special Teams Player of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

Notable Stats: 263 career tackles; 4 career interceptions; 14 career pass break ups; 4 career blocked punts;

In Closing: Few Tar Heels entertained fans with their spirit, passion and obvious love for the game like Bracey Walker. The gifted safety came along when Mack Brown’s Tar Heels were ascending into national relevance, and Walker, and how he played the game, drew eyes generating plenty of a reaction. His explosion onto the scene raised UNC’s profile in one of the most thrilling and important bowl victories in the program’s history.

Walker was the Defensive MVP of the 1992 Peach Bowl (played on Jan. 2, 1993) as the Heels defeated Mississippi State 21-17. He blocked two punts in that game, returning one himself for a touchdown and the other set up one. Walker also broke up a pass late in the game, deflecting so it was intercepted by the Tar Heels’ Cliff Baskerville, who returned it 44 yards for the game-winning score. That win set up a 10-win season in 1993 for the Heels, the first of three double-digit victory campaigns in a five-year stretch.

Prior Ranked Heels

30 - Natrone Means

29 - Jack Merritt

28 - Landon Turner

27 - Chris Hanburger

26 - Jeff Saturday

25 - Bob Lacey