Walter Aikens Jr. (born June 19, 1991) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

. He was drafted by the Dolphins in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia ( Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Lib ...

High school career

Aikens attended

Harding University High School Harding University High School is located at 2001 Alleghany Street, in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was established as a Math, Science, and Technology school in 1992, and added an International Baccalaureate to its program in 1995. The motto o ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. As a senior, he was named the All-Queen City Conference Offensive Player of the Year and earned first-team All- Mecklenburg County honors. Offensively, as a senior, he threw for 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns and ran for 565 yards and five touchdowns, leading the team in both categories. Defensively, he recorded six interceptions, running back one 104 yards for a touchdown. He was considered a two-star recruit by ''

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''.

College career

Aikens accepted a scholarship from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, where he played for the

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

team in 2009. As a true freshman, he appeared in 10 games, including five starts at

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

, recording with 32 tackles, (26 solo), and added two pass breakups, and was named to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman Team. On April 24, 2010, Aikens was arrested in connection with the theft of electronic items from a dormitory room on campus, as he was found in possession with the stolen property. The next day, he was suspended indefinitely from the team by coach

Ron Zook Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from ...

. Unable to be reinstated, Aikens transferred to

. After redshirting due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

transfer rules, he started 11 games in 2011, recording 49 tackles, three interceptions and a

Big South The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

leading 3 forced fumbles. He was named second-team all-conference. In 2012, he started 11 games, registering 51 tackles, one interception, six pass break-ups and three forced fumbles, and earned second-team all-conference honors. In 2013, he finished tied for first on the team with 62 tackles, three interceptions and six pass break-ups, and was named a first-team All-

selection.

Professional career

He was drafted by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

in the fourth round (125th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. Aikens was the first Liberty Flames defensive back drafted since Donald Smith in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. On May 26, 2014, the Miami Dolphins signed Aikens to a four-year, $2.63 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $415,908. In Week 4 of the 2014 season, Aikens recorded his first career interception in a 38-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders. During Week 15 of the 2016 season, Aikens recorded his first career touchdown after a blocked punt in a 34-13 victory over the New York Jets. On March 13, 2018, Aikens signed a two-year contract extension with the Dolphins. Although Aikens has had a limited role on the defense, he's been a large special teams contributor since the start of his career. He was named special teams captain by his teammates in September 2019.

References

External links

Liberty Flames bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aikens, Walt Living people 1991 births Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina Liberty Flames football players Illinois Fighting Illini football players American football cornerbacks Miami Dolphins players