Amber Theoharis sat down for a conversation with LB Quay Walker on this week's Silver and Black Show. Read the full interview below.

Q: You're a kind of quiet, low-key guy, but on the field you're not quiet. You remind me of an old-school linebacker in a lot of ways. Is there a linebacker growing up that inspired you that you watched?

Quay Walker: The first person that probably comes to mind, I watched a lot of guys honestly, but a guy who played for UGA, probably Alec Ogletree. He was a real athletic guy, could do it all. Put him on the edge of the ball, drop him back in coverage, play off the ball. Just a whole lot that he could do. But the main thing was hitting somebody. He always did his part when it came to that. That was one guy from the state of Georgia that comes to mind.

Q: The defense has been a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde. We've seen two sides to it at times. What has the focus in practice been this week to get back on track to what we saw in those first three game?

Walker: We're just trying to get back to that style of play. Anytime we can keep the ball in front of us and rally down, be real, real smart with containing the quarterback. Just doing out 1/11th, whatever the case may be. Everybody just doing their job, eliminating the explosives, it kind of puts us in the right position. And not only that, anytime we can get the ball as well, get it back to our offense, it kind of works hand in hand. It's complementary football. It kind of helps us at that point. So we're just trying to get better at that, just doing our job and just calm it down. But it's a part of the season, you know. Adversity is gonna come, and it came within probably these past two weeks with the results of the game. But it's a part of it. We're willing to accept that and accept the challenges, just step up.

Q:  like that you bring up explosive plays. When you are trying to limit those, is that usually just a matter of being where you're supposed to be?

Walker: It comes out of that and technique. Anytime we can just help one another with communication pre-snap, just having awareness, formation, recognition, just recognizing things and just talking to one another, that way everybody can just play faster. It'll help somebody. When we can get to that point, not saying that we haven't already been there, but that's our main focus. So we just need to do that, and then everything else gonna take care of itself.

Q: The one thing we saw early from you guys is that this defense can force turnovers. They can get after the ball. That seems like an identity that was established since day one in training camp. When you're trying to practice that, what do you focus on?

Walker: Oh, for sure. We don't get all the amount of takeaways that we have right now, we don't get those without practicing that beforehand. You don't just wake up one day and roll out of bed and just say, "On game day, all right, we're going to get the ball." This was something we started way back since OTAs. Each and every day, each and every practice, we counted the turnovers that we had."

Q: It's been really fun watching you and Nakobe Dean together, and my colleague James Jones on Raiders Gameday called you guys one of the best linebacking duos in the NFL. What is it about your days going back to Georgia and knowing each other so well that has made you a great tandem?

Walker: Pretty much just that connection. It's been a while since we played [together] since leaving UGA before now, and so it really hasn't left, I want to say, but it took a took a little while to get back used to [playing together], just especially OTAs with everything like that. I say we just picked out where we left off at. You know what I'm saying? Even with film, right after like yesterday, as soon as we got done, we grab our food and we go in the linebacker room and sit down. That's the same thing we did in college. Like we always sit down and watch film together. Kind of just picking up what we left off at, and that's pretty much the same thing.

Q: Tell us about a young Nakobe Dean. What was your first impression?

Walker: Oh, similar to me. Country, thick accent. My accent got better ever since I came to the West Coast a little bit, and probably when I went up north a little bit, my accent got better. But kind of similar to me, country guy, you know what I'm saying, well-minded and everything like that. I kind of thought the world of him already. Hard worker. There is just so much that I can put in the words to say about him, and I'll just keep it at that.

Q: You are country guy. We were talking about fishing before this interview. You said your granddad taught you how to fish. How does that help to have those kind of moments and that kind of a hobby that can keep you even-keeled. Has that has that been a part of who you are?

Walker: Yeah, for sure. It just eases your mind because my mind can be racing so much. So many thoughts that travel through a human mind. Anytime you got a chance to just sit back and just chill and relax. Everybody has their own hobby, that just happens to be mine.

Q: Eric Stokes, Brock Bowers, a bunch of Georgia guys here. What is it about that program that makes players so NFL ready?

Walker: Don't take this the wrong way, but it's kind of militant. The way that Coach [Kirby] Smart, just the way he molded us as soon as we came in. The standard that he [held] us upon, I know a lot of people, teams, or players, whatever the case, just preach about the standard. Everything that we did at UGA prepared us for being in the NFL. So there's nothing we haven't seen, nothing we haven't been through, and just no matter what it is, on or off the field, I think it just prepared us real, real well. And so, by the time we got here to the NFL, it was just like riding a bike all over again. It's something we already had been through in our mind and already saw.

Q: Nothing intimidates you, and not a guy like Josh Allen coming up. When you're a linebacker and you're lining up and you look at him, what has to go through your mind because he can hurt you a lot of different ways.

Walker: It's a lot. You don't want him to get out the pocket. You don't want him to scramble, especially as a linebacker dropping back in coverage. First thing in your mind is, "Should I go get him or should I stay in coverage?" It's a lot that plays hand-in-hand with that. But you've got to know what's the important thing for you to do. What's your job during that down? And during that down, it may be, I have to stay in coverage and stay attached to my guy because if I leave my guy because I'm thinking he's about to run, now he pops it and he throws it. Just a whole lot that comes with him. He's so good with his feet. Tremendous athlete. So much more that I can say, but it's a lot to come to mind when thinking of him.

Q: James Cook is also a big threat. What do you see from him on film?

Walker: A whole lot, honestly. This is a guy I came in with during college at UGA as well, so I kind of know a lot about him. Great route runner, can run the ball, can hit different holes. He may start over here this way, then he'll end up all the way over here. Great body control. Just a well-rounded athlete. Real, real great player, friend of mine as well.

Q: What needs to happen early in this game for this defense at home to kind of set the tone very early?

Walker: Just calm down, man. Just get our cleats in the ground. Just play ball, fly around. Get all 11 guys to the ball. Not only that, get off the field on third down. Anytime we can try to win first and second down to make third down a third-and-long situation, we have our opportunity to get off the field. We just have to get off the field and start there.

Click here to watch the full episode of the Week 6 Silver and Black Show.