Gophers freshman cornerback Justin Walley is up for any challenge

When Gophers freshman Justin Walley wrestled the ball away from Wisconsin receiver Kendric Pryor for the game-changing interception in a 23-13 rivalry victory, some 1,200 miles away in southern Mississippi, Larry Dolan immediately recognized that play and the competitive fire that produced it.

He witnessed it daily in practice two years ago at D'Iberville High School, where Walley would battle his older brother, Jaden, for the ball and family bragging rights.

"Some of the best battles I ever saw were between him and his brother," said Dolan, the D'Iberville coach. "They would want to compete and cover each other. We'd throw the ball up, and they'd come down in a pile, and I thought, 'We're going to get hurt in practice.' "

Said Justin, "It's always been a competition to see who was better, who was faster, who was stronger, who could score more touchdowns."

Jaden is now a standout sophomore receiver at Mississippi State, where he has caught 52 passes in each of the past two seasons. Justin, who confidently states that he's the better athlete in the family, has emerged on the scene as a budding star for the Gophers. His interception of Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz helped the Gophers turn a 10-6 halftime deficit to a 13-10 lead early in the third quarter on their way to winning Paul Bunyan's Axe.

Was the interception an example of Walley just wanting it more, just like those battles with his brother?

"I guess you can say that," Walley responded matter-of-factly.

As the Gophers prepare for Tuesday night's Guaranteed Rate Bowl against West Virginia in Phoenix, they will do so with a defense that ranks fourth nationally at only 284.8 yards per game. Walley, a true freshman, has helped his team garner that lock-down status, starting the final five games of the regular season and improving along the way. He has 28 tackles, that one interception, six pass breakups and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and earned freshman All-America honors from 247Sports.

Compass points north

That Walley is playing football at Minnesota, not with his brother at Mississippi State or at Ole Miss, is an upset in itself for someone from D'Iberville, a town of about 10,000 just north of Biloxi on the gulf coast.

With Jaden starring for Mississippi State as a freshman in 2020, many assumed Justin would follow to Starkville. After all, he was the Class 6A Mississippi Mr. Football as a high school senior.

"It did surprise me," Dolan said of Walley's decision to go north. "… He's different than his brother. They are definitely blood kin, but he's just a different guy. Jaden is more of a country guy who fishes and hunts and does all that Mississippi stuff. Justin, on the other hand, is not.

"When he told me he was going to Minnesota, I asked him once or twice, 'Are you still thinking Minnesota?' 'Yessir, yessir.' He was so locked in that nobody else would even get a chance."

Walley credits Gophers coach P.J. Fleck and cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes for selling him on Minnesota. "They showed me how much of a family this place was,'' he said. "Even though it's far from home, I'll still be able to feel at home.''

Still, the Mississippi schools kept trying, all the way up to early signing day last year.

"There was a coach at Mississippi State — they were constantly trying to get him to turn and come their way — and every Monday starting in October, all he would send Justin was a weather report from Minnesota," Dolan said. "It didn't work, but he sure tried."

Walley didn't waver, and now it's the Gophers who are reaping the benefits of a recruiting victory in the Deep South. A recent visit from his parents showed that he is quickly adapting to Minnesota.

"They were saying, 'It's cold.' I was like, 'Nah, it's 32 degrees,' " Walley said. "I think I'm getting used to it now."

Hitting the ground running

An early enrollee last winter, Walley showed promise during spring drills and even got a carry at running back in the spring game. He's all defense, though, and his improvement throughout the season saw him eventually seize a starting job.

Walley became a quick study under sixth-year senior cornerback Coney Durr, a Louisiana native.

"There's a lot of guys that physically could do probably the same thing as him, but one thing that separates him is being able to play to learn and put it on the field and just adjust," Durr said of the 5-11, 185-pounder. "… He's just a guy that wants to get better. It's amazing. He reminds me a lot of Antoine [Winfield Jr.] with the way they learn and just apply it on the field."

Walley has endured some freshman moments, such as the Iowa game in which he bit on a double move on Charlie Jones' 72-yard TD reception, but his resilience has impressed his coaches.

Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi sees a player who is barely fazed by the jump from high school to the Big Ten.

"He's like, 'I got beat. I'm going to come back,' "Rossi said. "Some guys when they get beat, they pout, or they make an excuse. He doesn't do any of those. He just says, 'Hey, what do I have to do to get better?' Those types of players, generally over the course of time, those are your best."