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- Thread starter Cruel Halo
- Start date
Its a numbers game. Some walk-ons will perform at a very high level. Its worth it to try them out. If its good enough for Dr Tom, its good enough for Scott Frost.
There's litterally zero downside to having that many players. They have 4 practice fields. The primary roster and the coaches are in the Hawks Center and everyone else is in different places. If anyone starts looking like they are performing well enough they will be on the scout team or given a chance to work with the 2 deep.
The more guys you have the better your odds you will find someone who can help you on Saturdays. Plus every guy that's here is a guy who isn't playing somewhere else. Which means they either aren't playing for your opponents or they aren't playing for a lower level school which means an extra scholarship is available for one of your opponents to recruit against.
The more guys you have the better your odds you will find someone who can help you on Saturdays. Plus every guy that's here is a guy who isn't playing somewhere else. Which means they either aren't playing for your opponents or they aren't playing for a lower level school which means an extra scholarship is available for one of your opponents to recruit against.
I got the impression early on Frost wanted to promote the walkons and would see 20 plus a year. I see dramatically less this year. Things have changed looking for instant success with the transfer portal. Frost knows he doesn't have multiple years to develop players. Attrition will happen more after spring and fall camp. All Frost has to say is they will not travel or dress for games and players with pride don't want to be where not welcomed. Most walkons you don't expect to take the field. You hope their work ethic in practice pushes the regular players. Rudy is the big example of a walkon that motivated others.
You need not worry. This will happen quite naturally. Expect the biggest exodus after Spring practice (depth chart clarity) and/or the Second Semester (a convenient academic break time) end.
But it would make no sense for the players to exit now before Spring Practice brings some clarity to the depth chart. With the new coaches on offense everyone on that side of the ball has a chance until they go through that Spring practice.
- Noa Pola Gates
- Markese Stepp
- Tate Wildeman
- Daniel Cerni
- Will Nixon
- Wyatt Liewer
- Damian Jackson
- Jaquez Yant
- Deondre Jackson - don't think he ends up here if we land Allen
- Logan Smothers - I want him to stay for depth but doubt he does
17 scholarship linebackers seems like a little much unless they are contributing hardcore to special teams. Hope we start recruiting more flex guys like JoJo who can play safety and outside.
the dude is a great story and assume great leader but he is liability. On punt team the guy can barely move, hopefully he never has to make a tackle but I did watch a few times last year where his athleticism level just doesn't belong on the D1 playing field. Classic workout warrior, that being said, I thank him for his service to our country and fb program.You want to cut Damian Jackson??
I'd chop the following:
Richard Torres - Not sure why we signed him, but see if you can make him portal bound
Marquis Stepp - Didn't work
Yant - He's ok, but I'd use as an opportunity to get another few portal guys
Chris Hickman - Too much of a tweener and hasn't done much
Pola Gates - Just don't think he has the size and sounds as he may have a slow blinker
Tate Wildman - Doesn't seem as he will ever contribute
Mosai Newsom - Hate to lose depth, but I would go try and get a better DL
Probably a few others that should be on the block for me.
Richard Torres - Not sure why we signed him, but see if you can make him portal bound
Marquis Stepp - Didn't work
Yant - He's ok, but I'd use as an opportunity to get another few portal guys
Chris Hickman - Too much of a tweener and hasn't done much
Pola Gates - Just don't think he has the size and sounds as he may have a slow blinker
Tate Wildman - Doesn't seem as he will ever contribute
Mosai Newsom - Hate to lose depth, but I would go try and get a better DL
Probably a few others that should be on the block for me.
What’s the deal with Noa Pola Gates? He seemed like a good prospect when we recruited him.
He could easily win a starting safety spot next year. A guy like Lynum (or even Johnson) would seem more likely to be processed to me.
One could easily argue against the big numbers, and I am on record of being against them.
You have a limited number of coaches, you can't spread them out all over the four fields and get the quality reps they need.
More doesn't equal better. It should be painfully obvious that Nebraska has had an overall lack of development in its players. Learn to develop what you have first before spreading yourself too thin.
The portal changes the qualities of the walk on program. Sure, Nebraska has a storied walk on program but only because it had successful coaches who knew how to develop players and use them properly.
There are a lot of resources going into walk ons that could be used elsewhere, not to mention there are budget issues as well.
Not saying eliminate it, but having huge numbers accomplishes nothing. I guess if we are playing keep away from other teams, we are winning that game. Who wants to raid our cupboard of highly rated walk ons?
Agreed. Tom had this place running like a well-oiled machine, everyone top to bottom knew what they were coaching and what the expectations were on a daily basis. That makes it a lot easier to manage a huge roster. Frost is still running a circus where starters seem like they don't know what they're doing at times. Not the same situation AT ALL. Whatever the opposite of a well-oiled machine is, that's what we are right now.
I'm just surprised that more of the walk ons don't bolt for a lower tier school scholarship. I don't know if they're able to get enough academic scholarship aid to make the outcome similar or what. Perhaps the county scholarship is a real thing. For nearly 50 years though I guess we've had Nebraska kids who would walk on and never play a meaningful snap while paying their own way for 4-5 years. The number of walk ons we have now does seem a little excessive. You could probably pretty quickly cut that number in half without missing anybody.
I've got a son visiting schools right now and I'm floored at what a basic college education costs. I hope the majority of the guys walking on have parents that can write the check because going into debt to be a walk-on at Nebraska might be one of the crazier things a person could do.
You guys know that DJ used to be a Navy Seal? #funfactYou want to cut Damian Jackson??
You are so right on the costs, they are unreal and really unsustainable. I would guess for some, it comes down to financing the dreams of both the student/athlete AND the parent. If the draw to be part of the program at Nebraska is worth the extra $, then I guess it is worth it to them. I just am not one to encourage debt to chase a dream like that but that is me.
nope, did not know that. Just figured he was some muscled up homeless guy down on O street and the huskers gave him a shot to walk on.
That's his claim to fame. Not anything he's ever done, or ever will do on the football field.
Pola Gates needs another year to prove himself..
Others wise can’t disagree with the rest..
The majority of walk-ons these days are going to give it a year or maybe two. Then transfer as some basketball & football players have. Or just give up football and get on with their lives.
Don’t discount how much of an example he may have been setting in the locker room and weight room.
Well if a walk on isn't playing, as long as he wasn't a PWO, he can get academic scholarships and other financial aid. So theoretically the cost for the parents would be the same as it would be if he just went to school. The student can get a part time job, and has no limitations on the amount of money he can make. I believe total cost for an instate kid to live on campus is about $22k, you can probably cut those costs if you get a couple of dudes and move into a house and split the costs. Most of the walk on players that I am familiar with were pretty bright kids and just wanted to be part of the team and probably has half or more of their costs covered with academic and local scholarships.
That is a different story than the kid that walks on and thinks they are going to play at some point. If that kids was recruited and decides to walk on than the types of scholarships he can get are slightly limited. At that point, I would advise a kid to take the partial or maybe full FCS or DII offer and actually play.
The road to being one of the walk ons that gets playing time, at a P5 school, is lonely and long. Nebraska takes anywhere from 22 to 28 walk ons every year. Aggregated that would be a minimum of 88 walk ons that stepped foot on campus in a 4 year period to 140 over a 5 year period. Considering we normally have about 50-60 on the roster, the attrition is pretty heavy. Of the 50-60 on the roster and of the 110-140 that come in as walk ons over a 5 year period we see like 5 make a significant impact. Additionally, the vast majority of the ones that make an impact were also PWO or guys that were "promised" a scholarship at some point over the next 4-5 years. Johnny Offdastreet has about 1 in 280 or greater shot to play anything but covering a kickoff in a 63-7 blowout of directional state.
Good points. I was specifically talking about is a kid who has a good football scholarship to a "lesser" school and chooses to walk on at Nebraska and pay.
I really thought Chris Hickman would create a nightmare for a defense but it never happened, but it would help to have a quarterback who doesn’t get his receivers killed with terrible passes. Maybe Chris will blossom now
Well, they would be eligible for academic scholarships and financial aid, just like every other student on campus. They just have to actually meet the qualifications for it
As I said, I'm talking about the guys passing up a full ride somewhere else to walk-on.