Last Tuesday, Aliquippa senior and Saint Francis University defensive back commit Arison Walker was going about his day as usual before receiving news that would potentially change the future of his collegiate athletic career.
News broke that Saint Francis announced it would move down from Division I to Division III for the 2026-27 athletic season, joining the Presidents’ Athletic Conference just weeks after the school's mens' basketball program clinched its first berth in the NCAA men's basketball tournament since 1991. The news also comes after the football program picked up its first win against an FBS opponent last season.
Walker was blindsided by the news, finding out from an athlete attending Washington & Jefferson College and at first thought, didn’t think that the news was real.
“I found out through social media before anything else,” Walker said. “Someone who plays for Washington & Jefferson sent me a text telling me that we were going to play them. When I first saw the tweet, I thought it was fake but when I read the email they sent, the news set in.
"I sent the email to my college coach, and then we talked about the next steps.”
After the initial news set in and he talked with his future head coach Chris Villarrial, Walker’s mind was swirling with thoughts of what would happen to the scholarship money he earned and potentially having to reopen his recruitment to find a new home quickly before the season started.
With the help of his family and taking a step back from the situation, Walker worked through those thoughts and the stress from the news subsided.
“My family was telling me to trust God’s plan,” Walker said. “Everything happens for a reason. I was frustrated at first but once they helped me and talked about everything, it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I am a lot more relaxed now that everything is sorted out and I am not stressing about it”
In this day in age of college athletics, when there is a coaching change or news that affects an athletic department, athletes will either choose to enter the transfer portal if they are currently enrolled. In Walker's case, high school athletes have also been known to reopen their recruitment when news like this occurs.
