Dream Changer: The Life of a Division I Power 5 Level College Football Walk-On (Year 1)

Preface: This is a 5-part series that goes into the life of what walk-on Division I college football players go through in their “career”, mainly drawing on the highest level possible of Power 5 conferences.  It is 5-parts because ach walk-on that sticks it out with a power conference is usually a 5-year window.  My background is seeing the life of a former walk-on from age 15 through today and some of the stories I have shared or been shared with me.  Yes, this story is my opinion and thoughts, but a lot of it draws on the discussions I have had with him and still do to this day on the subject.

A walk-on football player at the Division I level is the most grueling “job” in sports.  They work as hard as or harder than any scholarship athlete.  They do what the head coach, their position coach and others ask on a greater scale than any of the scholarship players and every day they have to earn their keep on the team.  It is comparable to that of a life of a NFL practice squad player, you are part of the team but you are just a body to help the team improve.  The main difference is a practice squad player gets some pay for his work, while a walk-on player pays his way onto the team beyond what any typical college student can imagine paying for their education.  A walk-on player typically plays for a Division I program for one main reason; the dream of playing at the highest level they possibly can.  In the end it’s a dream that starts one way as a high school player and is changed over their college football career.

His First Year-The Dream Begins

The Division I walk-on story doesn’t start the day he sets foot on the field at campus, it starts back in high school like any other player on the team.  The walk-on typically fits multiple criteria of the following that differ ever so slightly from their scholarship athlete teammate:

• The best player on his team or amongst the best player on his team.  Typically this person is from a team that doesn’t have a lot of Division I athletes produced.
• The complete opposite is the player that would be the best player for a number of other high schools and is very solid but is outshined by big-time Division 1 recruits that he plays alongside.  This happens at many of the football “factories”.
• Has very good Division II offers, may have Division I-AA/FCS offers, one of the service academies schools think his athleticism would fit their model and offer him to file paperwork or may have a scholarship to a lower level Division I school.
• Lacking the intangibles that earn a scholarship for a player with less stats or ability potentially.  These range from height to weight to speed or strength.  A gangly 17 year old is tough to predict how their body develops over the matured body of a 17 year old that filled out earlier.
• Competition level that they face.  This is especially true for smaller divisions and schools where a kid can’t choose to go play at a bigger school that is an hour away.
• Playing out of position-Often a high school will play their best player at a position they are most needed based off their abilities.  Typically this is the quarterback position for a player that is probably better suited to play wide receiver or secondary at the next level.  On the defensive side of the ball, they may play a player suited to play Linebacker at the defensive end position because they are the biggest player on that team.  Or they may play a safety type at the next level as a linebacker.  Usually a player plays out of position because their team lacks other players that can highlight where that player may be most effective.
• It is their Dream-An athlete that is good enough to be Division I but doesn’t get the offers may dream of playing for their long-time favorite team or a BCS level team they see regularly that told them they could walk-on but no scholarship was available.
• And last, that player grew up a fan of the team he decides to walk-on at and his dream has always been to be on THAT field.
   

So the combination of these amounts to the fact that a walk-on wants to prove they can be as good as the scholarship players and that they “earn” the right to be part of a prestigious program.  They want to show the people that doubted them, and told them to take the free money at a lower level school, that they can make it.   Often this is a discussion that may be difficult for many families that can’t help support an athlete through a larger university.  But ultimately the walk-on wants to be part of the highest level of completion and to be on television, they want to take the field in front of 10s of thousands and they want to live their dream.

Their path differs long before signing day:, there are no official visits, there are no hat ceremonies, there is no sitting at a table signing a letter of intent for a school and having your picture all over the paper and internet with your parents and coaches at your side.  These guys don’t get their names mentioned in the paper most of the time while the Division II and smaller Division I FCS signees accolades are noted along with the big name scholarship players.   This is followed up by going from February until the beginning of August where they have to work out at their local high school.  They will probably get a work-out program from the university if they are a preferred walk-on (usually meaning they can show up when practices begin for the team) but if they are another walk-on, it is at the coaches discretion and a program’s needs if they are allowed on the field to even prove their worth.  Either way, any walk on is always doing one thing for the program: proving they are worth keeping on the field. 

The Internship Begins-Fall Camp

Whether a freshman walk-on is allowed on the field the same day the rest of the team begins camp or comes out during open try-outs, it is like an internship or 30-day probation period in the job world, you better show that you are worth keeping on and taking the time and effort to deal with throughout the season. 

They aren’t even that last scholarship guy that the team took that at least has the entire season to improve, but are now a number or name on athletic tape on a helmet where they better be good at following a coaches orders and not doing too many dumb things, along with giving the old adage of 110% on everything asked of them.  They will run harder than that other guy because even though they are both the same speed, the walk-on can’t go 80% on those sprints like the other guy is because they lack the security blanket of a scholarship while the walk-on is trying to earn the chance to represent the university. On every drill, play or anything you see them do, it requires them giving maximum effort because if they get ran over, that may be the last time they are allowed in that drill or to run a play or maybe even be on that field representing the school.

If you started with the rest of the team on Day One, your camp has a life changing moment happen during the middle of camp, you’re now a college freshman!  You not only have to be at practice and bust your butt, you have to pay for your college and already start counting your debt.  That walk-on balances football along with living with a roommate he just met, a lack of funds after paying for what the loans didn’t cover and taking the most difficult classes they have every taken.  While the other first-year freshman are able to maybe enjoy the college scene (aka party and other fun troubles), that walk-on is either at practice, doing homework they couldn’t do while the typical college student studied or doing extra work to develop the area they were lacking in order to get a scholarship in strength and size.

After all this,  the walk-on athlete is exhausted and has gone from being the big man in high school to the no-name player on campus, but that young man has earned the right to be a part of the program he worked his rear end off and already started to live part of his dream.  In Game 1 of the season his name will be in that program, he will be on that sideline (if at home) and unlike the guys that showed up to wear a jersey in high school he earned that name on the back of that jersey to represent the program on the front.

The Season Begins

The excitement of the season is amazing for a fan, but living out a dream of being part of a Division I program trumps it.  The walk-on is now actually a part of that team and gets to dress or at least wear their jersey to every home game.   They are part of the team and getting very few reps but they can say every week when they stay home while the team is away that they practice against that guy on or laid the wood (or most likely got laid out ) by that guy on TV in practice the other day.  They get to experience everything they were hoping to do when they first had this wild dream of playing Division I football.  In most every walk-ons case, they aren’t ever going to walk on to the field on game day as a true freshman other than in a rare occasion to walk on to do warm-ups and after the game, but there won’t be any live action.

Practices remain the same as fall camp.  They are just a warm body that helps provide depth on the scout team and maybe be a practice dummy.  They get yanked around here and kicked over there.  They still have to give 110% but that walk-on better know their role.

There is the rookie hazing for all freshmen that began with singing your high school fight song and/or a skit that better get laughs or entertain or you’ll start to get more shit than the typical freshman.  This is typical of any freshman in college sport, especially football, not just the walk-on.  The walk-on just has less protection than a scholarship guy from the coaches.  The walk-ons best chance at making a good impression on both the staff and players is to work his ass off but not piss off any of the players.  It is a tough balance and during the season it is difficult to not draw a more well-known player or older players ire at some point.  It’s how you handle it in both the players and coaches minds that will determine what is next.  Most of the time, if a freshman walk-on gets through an entire season and makes a fair impression, it means they get to go to a bowl and enjoy the luxuries the other regulars do and it means a chance to continue to show your worth come spring.

End of Season through Spring Ball

Again the walk-on player is on probation, bust your butt and come spring you will be there.  You don’t show up to off-season workouts and try to get better every day, they don’t need you and will wait for fresh blood the next year.  A walk-on is owed nothing and as their time with the school goes, this becomes more evident.  However, for the guy that is giving that effort, there is little doubt that he is probably still in dream mode.  He is thinking, “Next season I can maybe play.  Heck I will play, since the coaches said I could play in some of the blowouts if I’d like.  But I’ll play when it matters, not just when we are winning by 30!”  How the next few months shake out will determine what happens in August, but first it’s off-season and spring ball.  For the walk-on, the weight room and the strength coach are his new best friends.  While they were acquaintances before, the group better spend every day possible together for hours.  After all, there is a reason the walk-on is not a scholarship athlete because he most likely lacked the size of the fellow freshman that got less reps and less chances in practice because he doesn’t care, he’s got a scholarship and he doesn’t need to show as much fire if he’s not going to get the chance to show how good he is?  That is the mindset of the unsuccessful scholarship kid and most are not that way, but still a walk-on must push like the hardest working scholarship player, not the lackadaisical scholarship player.  The team isn’t going to rally around him due to his hard work in one year, but the strength coach and the players that push every day like him will take note and spread the word eventually.  The respect will be there.  That is one aspect that the hard working walk-on with talent gains over the scholarship athlete with a lack of drive has the advantage in, RESPECT.  Respect is earned after all!

That walk-on gains 5-10 lbs from end of season to spring ball and while he has ate a ton with the team meals, meal plans, etc. this is hard earned muscle.  That scrawny or a little pudgy freshman glamour shot for the program is now turning into a young man, redshirt freshman that has grown muscles and looks like he belongs.  That same walk-on will have a great spring where he gets some reps with the second team and even though he’s not going to make the rotation, the coaches see the work he has put in to date and know how that will increase with a great summer off-season.  Still, they did just sign a freshman receiver from a dominate conference in a recruiting hot bed, so come August camp, they’ll let him have the reps he had earned and showed he was worth.  It is an endless cycle he will continue to experience.  Still, the now Redshirt freshman walk-on just had a great spring and there is talk of playing time on special teams before the summer training or camp has even begun.

Off-Season Workouts-A Job But No Pay

The walk-ons summer isn’t relaxing and having a good time or taking classes he needs for the next season in order to be eligible aren’t in the cards.  It is spent trying to find a job that can pay him whatever is possible for him to have a life other than school and football, as well as pay the extra that loans won’t cover in order to attend school.  Mainly, for his dream of continuing his stature as a football player with the University, it is continuing his love interest with the strength/conditioning coordinator and the weight room.  There is working around your schedule that pays you in order to make the workouts that you MUST do to only pay for a better body and chance to play.  If you are lucky enough you may have a strength coach that will work with the schedule of the players and give you options so you may well be able to balance workouts while maintaining a 40-hour a week job while having friendships and family.  That walk-on will have to put in roughly six hours a week in the weight room and another half a dozen in organized activities and cardio workouts that are meant to push players to the point of exhaustion.   There is no break for a walk-on if they want to live their dream.

 Epilogue of Part 1 :  Many of this story, I am referencing what may be an exception to the rule here and the walk-on maybe isn’t busting his tail off in every case.  Some may do just enough to keep on board and be a scout team tackling dummy.  This walk-on is the type that earns playing time within the first couple years, typically on special teams but he sees the field.  He travels because the team actually needs him and doesn’t just replace him.  Not all walk-ons deserve praise, but from the main one I have known and seeing and reading and watching the stories of many others, the overriding factor is hard work and not quitting.