By: David Garcia
In 2024, the NCAA calculated that only 2.5% of high school football players would go on and play at the Division III level. My high school football coach told the team a similar statistic at the beginning of my senior year, not as a fear tactic that we’d never continue to play again, but something like a challenge, like any of us could bump that number up.
And while we all fought for this idea during the season, once it ended, for me, it felt like a nuke just blew my mind blank, like a piece of my soul was just stolen from me. I had played all four years of high school, and while I wasn’t that great, it was still four years committed to a sport, I was a guy who’d do anything to be on the field, even if it meant being a running back and filling in as a lineman on scout defense.
I knew when I confirmed my application to SUNY Cortland that the football team had a walk-on portion during the spring, which gave me some semblance of hope that I could revive what I had in high school.
The walk-on process gives student athletes the opportunity to go through workouts with coaches to see if you can keep up with the athletes already on the team.
Some NFL players were walk-ons themselves, including Baker Mayfield, Clay Matthews, and J.J. Watt to name a few.
What makes being a walk-on so difficult is you’re pretty much starting at ground zero. Even if you have game film from high school, you’re not only fighting for a spot amongst however many other athletes on the walk-on process, Plus, there are also the returning members of the team, scouted prospects, and athletes entering through the transfer portal.
Sophomore Jacob Dobricki was initially scouted by Cortland during the 20-21 season and offered a spot. After some changes to the team, Dobricki lost his spot, but coach Fitzpatrick kept in contact, even bringing up walking on.
“I give him mad respect though cause every other coach that was recruiting me eventually just basically ghosted in terms of communication, so for him to send me that email meant a lot,” said Dobricki. “And I guess that kind of solidified my decision to walk on.”
There are a lot of varying factors going this route. In some cases, schools won’t pick any walk-ons for the year.
I made the decision to go through this process two times, only making the first level the first time, and making it past the second level on my final attempt.
I did my process while coach Fitzpatrick was still the head coach at the time. The way he held tryouts was that we’d have two days where we would weight train, so the coaches can get a baseline of our work ethic and stats in the weight room. Another two days would be held for conditioning, mostly running drills in the basketball court of the alumni arena.
These workouts would be held around 5:00-6:00 a.m. around the start of the spring semester. Being a student without a car at the time definitely made the walk from Alger Hall to the arena feel more like a snowy expedition than a cool walk to start the day.
I did befriend several of the others trying to walk-on, including one notably who did make the team was Dylan Holder.
“The process to become a Red Dragon requires dedication,” said Holder. “It’s the motivation to become part of something bigger than yourself”
What followed was a two-week period where the coaches would review the athlete’s film from previous years and look at how they were in the different workouts.
If you ended up making it past the first stage of selection, the next step was on the field practice. Coach would divide the groups into what positions they wanted to be evaluated as. This would only be a one-day assessment, which is where my time in the process would end.
And while the disappointment lingered longer than I wanted, I felt good knowing that I even tried at all, regardless of outcome. An idea that another friend of mine, Julian Palma, also shares.
“Whether you make the team or not. I forces you to confront doubt,” said Palma “Work under pressure, and give everything you have without guarantees.”
The proceeding process would be another assessment by the coaches, and after that, it’s all a toss-up. A coach’s decision determines if you are worth a roster spot after sifting through the tens, possibly hundreds of others looking for that same roster spot.
The walk-on process has recently been under threat by the House v. NCAA settlement, which would force schools to share revenue. This would have the effect of limiting school sports spending along with limiting roster size, forcing schools to limit players on the team, with the walk-on process as a whole under threat of being terminated.
Which is unfortunate. Walk-ons were first introduced around the 1960s at Nebraska, it gave athletes from small towns the chance to prove their worth to colleges, even if they didn’t get the privilege of being scouted.
“If I had the choice to walk on or get a roster spot, I’d take the spot 10/10 times,” Dobriki said. “But I will say it was definitely a test of resilience for me and even though all my doubts about making the team, or even if it’s really what I wanted to do, it really did become clear to me through the process that it’s something that was worth doing and was probably the best decisions I could’ve made”
The walk-on process is a great learning experience, even if you don’t make the team.
“That journey taught me that sometimes rejection redirects you to where you truly belong,” said Palma “I found my stride in track, and it ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made.”
The fallout from the House settlement remains to be seen. For now, the walk-on process remains a part of college sports “The process is a valuable asset to college sports” said Holder. “I’m very grateful to be a part of such a process and I encourage everyone to try and give it their best shot, no matter what.”
