Thursday, July 30, 2009

Walkon mystique conversation continues

If there’s one thing that Nebraska football fans speak of with great reverence – it’s the walk-on program.

Well, not just the program itself per se. Pretty much any school has such a program. It’s just that at Nebraska, that part of the program has such a deep rooted meaning based on what football means to the state.

By definition, the term walk-on is used to describe an athlete who becomes part of a team without being actively recruited beforehand or awarded an athletic scholarship. This results in the differentiation between "walk-on" players and "scholarship" players.
Walk-ons have a particularly developed history in college football. Often these athletes are relegated to the scout team, and may not even be played on the official depth chart or travelling team. However there are occasions, sometimes well publicized, where a walk-on will become a noted member of their team in one of several ways.
At Nebraska there have been several. Too many to list. Granted, it’s not news but it is always intriguing. I was listening to the podcast of Unsportsmanlike Conduct, which is an Omaha based sports talk show hosted by Kevin Kugler and Mike’L Severe.

“Walk Ons: Huskers’ Edge” is a documentary that will air Tuesday on NET and captivates you by showing Alex Henery’s dramatic 57-yard field goal last November in a 40-31 win over Colorado while noting that the three components involved are walks. There is Henery the kicker. TJ O’Leary the long-snapper and Jake Wesch the holder.

Anyhow, on Friday’s version of Unsportsmanlike conduct, Kugler and Severe interviewed numerous former Nebraska walkons such as Adam Treu, Jared Tomich and Joel Mackovica.

You see, it’s one thing for us as fans and/or recreational bloggers to talk about the significance of the walkon program. It’s another to hear former players several years after being removed from their playing days.

It’s good to see the program get re-emphasized. I think to some degree Bill Callahan gets a bad wrap for his dealing with the walkon program during his time as head coach from 2004-2007. It’s not like he eliminated it. He just made a decision that was going to have to get made at some point – reducing it. Sorry to tell you folks but had Bo Pelini taken the job in 2004 as opposed to 2008, he would have made the same decision.

Callahan’s biggest mistake was his reluctance to embrace Nebraska’s rich history. I firmly believe that the walkon program always gave Nebraska an advantage because football means so much to the state. The only culture that is comparable is Alabama. The walkons have such a deep passion for Nebraska football that they push the five-star recruits in practice to be better players. Kids that grow up in Nebraska live in homes decked out in Husker red, therefore they are likely to practice much harder during the week and give it that much more effort on Saturday.

Some of these walkons will go on to be key components on the team. Others might never even play in a game. However, even if a player is in the latter category at Nebraska, they will still push the highly regarded scholarship athletes to the limit in practice. Why? Because walkons at Nebraska are treated with the same respect as the scholarship guys.

Players are not walkons because they are not good enough. Some guys will fall through the cracks. Also, kids in metro areas such as Omaha (or any bigger city) are going to get scouted much more comprehensively than someone in Alliance.

Kids playing in those areas might get offered scholarships at Iowa State or a Div I-AA, Div-II or NAIA school but that is a hard sell. Those kids might also be playing 8-man football as opposed to 11-man, making it much different to evaluate.

The walk-on program is also to Nebraska’s advantage because they teach the out of state recruits just how important football is to the entire state.

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