A walk on in football is a player that does not receive any sort of scholarship or payment to play on the football team. Instead, these players will show up to tryouts and attempt to earn a spot on the football team and will have to pay for schooling themselves.
There are actually two types of walk-on players in college athletics. These two types of walk ons are referred to as preferred walk ons and plain walk ons.
A preferred walk on is a player that has already been scouted by the coaching staff. This player has been invited to play for the team yet must do so without a scholarship. In many cases, this player will already have a spot on the roster set aside for him.
A regular walk-on usually has not be scouted by the coaching staff and simply shows up to the team tryouts. Since the scholarships on the team are typically already given out this player will not receive any financial aid for playing football.
How Do You Walk On A Football Team?
Walking on to a football team is actually a fairly straightforward process it is having the talent to make the team where things get tough.
In order to walk-on a football the first thing you need to do is get into a college. In order to play for any college team, you are going to need to be a student at the school. So if you are still in high school make sure you put some of your energy towards your schoolwork.
Once you are attending a college you simply need to find out what time and date the tryouts are. To do this you can simply google the question and you should find your answer.
If you cannot find your answer online then contacting the coaching staff is the next best strategy. This method will also allow you to get an opportunity to introduce yourself to the coaching staff.
This may influence them to pay a little more attention to you at the try outs if they have spoken with you before.
Do Walk Ons Get Playing Time?
Though walk-ons can turn into great football players the vast majority of them are not going to get much playing team. The bigger the program the smaller the chance is that a walk on will be able to get onto the field.
The reason for this is because big schools tend to have large scholarship budgets. This means that a large portion of the team is going to be on scholarship. Scholarships are given to players that the coaching staff values.
In order for a walk on to pass a scholarship player on the depth chart he is going to have to show some real promise.
That all being said, just because a player isn’t getting a lot of playing time doesn’t mean he isn’t helping the team.
Walk ons are vital to many college football teams due to their contributions to the team’s depth as well as their involvement in practice.
A football team needs more than just 22 starters to be successful. Being a walk-on that is mostly involved in practice is still going to help the team reach their ultimate goal.
Not to mention every once and a while a walk on will shock the coaching staff and find his way into the starting lineup.
That’s all on walk-ons learn more about redshirt seniors or gray shirting in football if you found this article interesting.
