One of the coolest parts of college sports could be going away in due time. According to a recent report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, Power Four leadership has discussed an overall roster-size reduction, one that would more closely resemble the 85 scholarship maximum. In doing so, it would essentially eliminate the concept of walk-ons at any major college football program of note.
While walk-ons rarely amount to much on the football field itself, we do see college football hand out the Burlsworth Trophy, as well as many former walk-ons go on to do other great things besides play. In fact, many of the game’s top coaches in the sport are former walk-ons. One such former walk-on was in rare form over this concept. That would be Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule.
Here is what Rhule said about college football potentially doing away with walk-ons while appearing on College Sports on SiriusXM last week. Keep in mind that Rhule walked onto Penn State in college.
“I think it’d be awful. I think a lot of things are being kind of said right now, I think there’s kind of the wait and see how it ends up because you know that might not happen. But if it does, I think it would be just an awful thing.”
Rhule was one of the many former walk-ons whose life was better off after having this opportunity.
“For every player that ends up with a high-end commercial, there’s 100 players that are becoming better people by having played college football and being part of a team and those are the people that usually end up running our country, running our corporations, running our businesses. I mean, we spend all this time talking about what great things college football does and now if we take it away from a bunch of people. I would really, really, really be sad.”
He brought up another great point that these rosters may become upperclassmen-laden as a result.
“What I don’t want is, I don’t want a world in which, because we’re playing 17 games to win the national championship, which I’m all for, I don’t want teams loading up on seniors and juniors only. I don’t want high school recruiting to die. I don’t want walk-ons to die.”
Rhule freely admitted to him not having a chance to coach in college without playing at Penn State.
“At the end of the day, this is still a sport which most of us that love it, we end up being old guys like me on the phone right now. And we’re only here because of the experiences we had. So I hope that that’s not part of it. I hope that we can have walk-ons.”
With Nebraska having over 145 players and a great walk-on program, this idea crushes the Huskers.
“I’ve always had a smaller roster, but when you come to a place like Nebraska, there are unbelievable young men on our team that they don’t care if they ever play a snap. They want to do everything they can to help Nebraska win.”
Rhule may have been hyperbolic with this last bit of the quote, but I can assure you he means well.
“I’m going to tell you that some of these guys are gonna change the world someday and to think that we’re going to take that away from them, there’s so many unintended consequences. Sometimes the people that are making these decisions — don’t forget about access, we need access for young people that really need it.”
The idea of losing walk-ons is an unintended consequence of NIL that most of us never considered.
Matt Rhule does not want a college football world without walk-ons
While every head coach has his own motives, Rhule’s feel completely genuine here. This obviously touches close to him because he knows what is at stake here. The next Matt Rhule could be a walk-on at Nebraska right now, or in a few years. You never know what kind of doors and career pathways this could open. If a guy can get into school and find a way onto the team, he should be able to benefit.
Truth be told, I never played football in an organized sense. I was more of a baseball player more than anything. However, one thing that I always appreciated growing up was if you wanted to play football at my high school, there was a spot for you. Yes, you had to be tough enough to want to do it, but there was an entry point for everybody who wanted to play. Football is a sport of great meritocracy.
Rhule was on the same Penn State teams as College Football Hall of Famer LaVar Arrington. He saw Rhule for years get his ass kicked in practice from the same Nittany Lions linebacker room. While Arrington went on to be the No. 2 overall pick by Washington, it was Rhule who became one of the best coaches in college football in recent history. This opportunity was his way into being part of it all.
Overall, I think the concept of getting rid of walk-ons is beyond stupid. Doing so implies that guys like Baker Mayfield, Stetson Bennett IV or even the late Brandon Burlsworth offered no value on the football field. They did. As for those walk-ons who don’t play, I can safely say that Rhule, Lincoln Riley and Andy Staples’ lives are all better after having been able to walk on and play major college football.
College athletics should be all about giving people opportunities, not to take any away from them.
Leave a Reply