Walk-ons

Athletic Recruits
21

<p>In my D2’s sport, the coach is only allowed to carry 15 players on the team. She recruits between 3-4 per year, replacing the recruits who graduate. For this current year, there were 13 recruited athletes on the roster. It is a D3 school so all recruited athletes were recruited walk-ons. </p>

<p>Three other freshman girls went out for the team. Because the coach only had 1 senior graduating, taking two of the true walk-ons bringing the team up to the maximum allowed would have only left the coach with 1 slot open for recruitment. This was not enough for optimum recruitment and would have made the team quite freshman heavy (and carried the heavy load for the next 4 years). The coach didn’t keep any of the 3 who tried out.</p>

<p>So my point is that true walk-ons have an even harder time gaining a spot on the team because of maximum team numbers and future recruitment options for the coach.</p>

22

<p>My understanding of what a “recruited walk-on” is in DI is as keylyme describes. In DIII, where there are no athletic scholarships, I think the term applies to a player who is on the coach’s radar screen but not on the list of supported athletes the coach gives to admissions. Such a player, who may have interested the coach at showcases or through videos or stats, still may have a leg up over the kid who enrolls at the school and wants to try out without having had any contact with the coach.</p>