AJ Collins DB. I'm trying to figure out why we had him on the roster in the first place. His only area offers were from NAIA schools I think. I'm all for the walk on program but maybe we need to be a little bit more selective with who we devote resources to.
Walk ons entering portal
- Thread starter dinglefritz
- Start date
Well the situation corrected itself so I see no harm in taking the chance with that walk on. He didn't take up a scholarship slot, he didn't work out and he is moving on.
I won’t argue too hard one way or the other, but the philosophical question partly boils down to how many is it worth taking as walk-ons to find the handful of future contributors.
Nebraska has a history of utilizing walk-ons in the two or three deep and I think you’re not necessarily going to find those ‘diamonds’ by limiting the choices too much-
i.e. throw a lot at the wall and see what sticks.
If I kind of like two or three walk-ons, I’d rather get all of them and let it play out instead of only choosing one who “seems” a little better (also harder to evaluate kids coming from less competitive divisions).
Having said that, there do seem to be a number of walk-ons we take that don’t show that much potential to reach future contributor status.
There could be room to trim the excess.
Nebraska has a history of utilizing walk-ons in the two or three deep and I think you’re not necessarily going to find those ‘diamonds’ by limiting the choices too much-
i.e. throw a lot at the wall and see what sticks.
If I kind of like two or three walk-ons, I’d rather get all of them and let it play out instead of only choosing one who “seems” a little better (also harder to evaluate kids coming from less competitive divisions).
Having said that, there do seem to be a number of walk-ons we take that don’t show that much potential to reach future contributor status.
There could be room to trim the excess.
From my understanding, the ONLY difference between a walk on and a scholarship player is in fact the cost of the scholarship.
The school still invests time in coaching, training table, Conditioning, and all incidentals.
I have said before, there are only so many reps to go around in any position group. Minimize all you want but there is considerable investment in these walk ons. Someone had the numbers on the cost at one time, it was expensive.
The school still invests time in coaching, training table, Conditioning, and all incidentals.
I have said before, there are only so many reps to go around in any position group. Minimize all you want but there is considerable investment in these walk ons. Someone had the numbers on the cost at one time, it was expensive.
3 Primary reasons
- Tuition cost - meaning a lot of kids will take the lower offer as their family doesn't have the $
- Regional schools in ND and SD have really opened a door into Neb taking guys that use to walk on at Neb
- Having walk-ons provides depth @ practice, especially in the spring.
If Feist plays much I'm going to get way more worried about our d-line than I already am. He's a beast, but just does not have the frame for d-line in the B1G. Maybe spot duty here and there. If some of our bigger recruits had his motor we'd be set.
D-line would be my major concern. LB and DB are all okay, but controlling or slowing down the opponents OL determines much of the game.
I thought AJ Collins was a good walk on pick up for the Huskers when they got him. Not sure what happened but apparently it's not working.
From what I understand they have room for around 150 players.
Here is the total for each position. It's 150 now if I can count. We will be adding some players this summer, so there will be some departures. The DLINE is thin not only scholarship wise but for walkon's as well. You can stage 2 scrimmages at the same time with these numbers but you would have to be careful with the DLINE.
WR 20 players
TE 12
QB 8
RB 14
OL 23
DB 27
LB 24
DL 10
P 3
PK 5
LS 4
Here is the total for each position. It's 150 now if I can count. We will be adding some players this summer, so there will be some departures. The DLINE is thin not only scholarship wise but for walkon's as well. You can stage 2 scrimmages at the same time with these numbers but you would have to be careful with the DLINE.
WR 20 players
TE 12
QB 8
RB 14
OL 23
DB 27
LB 24
DL 10
P 3
PK 5
LS 4
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Can any student enroll and at least try one day of football ? I thought when I was in school I ran across something in the course catalog showing Osborne as the instructor. Now the average student would probable not be able to walk home after one day of football but if you are an enrolled student seems you should be able to try.
You need bodies in practice. You need your two deep to be working on themselves and game prep, not learning and running other team's plays for practice. If you limit your roster to 13 scholarship players, you don't have a full team to learn and run the opponent's plays for practice. You need about 5 walk-ons for that purpose. If you want to be able to run two stations of 5 on 5, you need 7 walk ons - and that's without anyone being held out of a practice for injuries or rest. Football scholarship provides 3 deep on scholarship, plus another 19. Basketball allows approx. 2 1/2 deep. So, walkons are probably more important for practice depth than in football, IMO. Yes, you spend resources on the walk-ons. But, if you don't give them access to training table and a few perks, see how many you get willing to do it. Its a grind for those kids with little to no other reward.
So you made a case for large numbers but no results to back them up. Just having enough to.scrimmage accomplishes what? How many walk ons have been developed lately? How many reps in drills are the walk ons getting that the scholarship players don't get because of coaching numbers?
Tom made the walk on program what it was, he had a better eye for talent overall and knew his assistants could develop people.
If the formula is so great why doesn't everyone do it, not just Nebraska? I am not against the program, many years ago I knew kids who walked on and it was a great experience for them. Where is the overall value in the program aside from having enough to scrimmage?
I think they had a tryout for all comers, but you had to be a pretty good athlete to be allowed to be on the team. We had a couple of guys in my frat who walked on that way. They were absolute studs athletically but I don't think any of them every got to play and they took turns suiting up for games.
I think it is logical to think that the quality of some of our walkons have probably been diminished some by the number of "D-1" programs that have sprouted up offering more scholarships. That said, we've had quite a few walkons be significant contributors at OL, WR and special teams. Maybe too many but when you whiff like we did on so many guys like we did with Frost's first 2 classes, that's what you get. The debate is whether or not the resources we commit to walk ons is worth the number of guys who contribute. Spencer Long says yes.
How are more D1 programs offering more scholarships? The number has remained fairly constant over the years. The cost of education is a big factor, personally I would take the small school scholarship and play rather than walk on at big time U.
It isn't hard to find a walk on who contributed somewhere but it's a matter of numbers. Spencer Long and who else? How many in the last 10 years or in Frosts tenure?
Again, I am not against the walk on program, knew some guys who loved the opportunity there. It doesn't seem to have the same results it once did and simply increasing numbers when you are struggling to coach your scholarship kids doesn't seem a prudent way to go.
I would argue, develop your system of coaching/development first to get where the program once was where players were generally maxed out at Nebraska. Then add the walk ons to an acceptable and productive number. Large numbers do not equal large success.
There have been a large number of formerly D2 schools who have moved up to D-1 FCS. Someone can correct me IF I'm wrong but D2 schools currently can offer only 36 scholarships I believe. FCS can have 63 football players on scholarship. So I think it probably has more of an effect on our area walk on potential than it used to. UNI, SDSU, USD, UND, NDSU, etc.
If there are real numbers in scholarship changes, that further bolsters the theory there are fewer numbers of walk on candidates. So the pool is naturally smaller.
The proof is in the pudding of these kids who head to the portal and don't get picked up or if they do, by a much smaller program. That was the talk that some of these guys were likely to get left out.