The gauntlet has been thrown down by Kirby Smart to defensive end Travon Walker. Georgia’s head coach expects the junior to have a big year.

“I want to go be great,” Walker said without batting an eye.

“I always set big goals for myself,” he continued. “That’s just something I want to do for myself, not for anybody else. I want to do it for myself before it comes to anybody else.”

Teammates can tell you it's not a lot of fun going against the former four-star performer.

Just ask senior offensive lineman Justin Shaffer.

“I get to go against Travon really every day,” he said. “It’s hard because his arms are so long and he’s so explosive off the ball.

That bodes well for UGA.

In his first two years, Walker had 28 tackles, with 3.5 sacks for losses of 13 yards, while splitting time with Malik Herring.

This season, with Herring having moved on, the position is his alone. However, that knowledge has only served as an extra motivator.

Before, Herring would be there to push him. Now that he's not, Walker understands the onus is entirely on him.

“For me personally, No. 1, just get better with my hands and conditioning level, because I’m going to have to play a lot more snaps,” he said. “I’m trying to train my hands and my eyes, because that was one of my main goals to perfect.”

Filling Herring’s cleats will not be Walker’s only responsibility.

With Azeez Ojulari moving on the to NFL, Walker will now be asked to include some of the responsibilities held down by the potential first round draft pick.

Smart explained exactly what that will entail.

“We had productive rushers, but a lot of that's what (Dan Lanning) called, and trying to scheme to get guys one-on-one. Travon, I think he is going to have a big year for us. Not only is he replacing Malik, but in a lot of ways, he's replacing Azeez,” Smart said. “I think everyone assumes with Azeez being gone that it's now Nolan's (Smith) job, but it's not like that for us. Sixty to 70 percent of the snaps, Travon is Azeez. The rest, Nolan is Azeez. One is left and one is right. Both of those guys play defensive end a lot.”

Walker said the experience he received last year should certainly aid that pursuit this fall.

“It helps that last year I got more second down and first down reps,” Walker said. “I wasn’t just playing third down and dime packages. I was able to put my hand down and play the run a lot, so I think that’s going to make my game come a little faster, and I won’t be as hesitant.”