JP Rosales is an ASU Cronkite Student assigned to cover Copper Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

GLENDALE — As the sun began to set over Copper Canyon's football field Monday, rush-hour traffic moved along Camelback Road while the Aztecs worked through one of their final practices of the season.

Through the whole practice, assistant coach Josh Walker brought the same energy his players have come to expect.

“He's always hyped,” junior wide receiver and safety Isaac Simms said. “He's like, let's go, and when the D-line gets a sack, he's the one there just screaming, screaming his head off, and he just has all the energy.”

Walker’s fire did not start at Copper Canyon. He credits his father with shaping an energetic approach that followed him through his playing career and eventually into coaching.

“My dad raised me with a lot of energy, so that's how I coach the game,” Walker said. “That's how I take on life, with a lot of energy. So, giving back to these kids, having that fire behind them, that's all I know.”

Walker grew up in Carrollton, Georgia, before transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, for his senior season. A three-star defensive line prospect, Walker played on IMG’s 12-0 national championship team before signing with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2018.

Years later, Walker brought his football experience to Copper Canyon after head coach Rodger Schenks made him one of his first hires.

“He was one of the first guys I hired, and he's been great,” Schenks said. “He's great with kids. He's a great technician. He's a great motivator and leader. He's a special man, and we're very lucky. It's great to have him around here with our kids because they learn a lot from him.”

Walker said he had opportunities to coach at more established programs but wanted a different challenge.

“I wanted to make sure that I coached somewhere where you’ve got to bring everything up in the dirt,” Walker said. “Copper Canyon, we had never had no track record of having a winning success or anything like that. So I wanted to come here where there was nothing. So we had to lay the foundation down.”

Three years later, senior wide receiver and safety Aiden Potts said Walker’s passion remains one of his defining characteristics.

“If we mess up on the field, obviously he's going to pull us aside, talk to us and get us straight,” Potts said. Walker has a lot of fire.”

Meanwhile, senior linebacker Tristan Grapes sees that passion extend beyond practice.

“There's always a conversation about him. It always points back to football,” Grapes said. “He's a football guy.”

For Walker, however, coaching is also about the relationships that remain after players leave Copper Canyon.

He pointed to former player Javier Castro, who graduated last year and has returned to practices to help work with the defensive line.

“You don't just wait untll the last week of the football season to take everything in,” Walker said. “I took them in this summer when they were working out. I took it in during fall camp. You take it in for the games. I talk to these kids all the time.”

Walker said graduation does not end those connections.

“So just because they’re leaving me, that doesn't mean that they’re leaving my life,” Walker said. “I keep connections with these kids. I help them come back out and help us out. The relationship's going to be forever.”