Gets me about fall camp these days? Nobody talks about walk-ons anymore. I remember when we built championship depth with kids who showed up unannounced, paid their own way, and earned everything through sheer will. The 1992 squad had walk-ons all through the two-deep who would have rather died than transfer out when things got tough.
Nowadays every kid with a pulse thinks he deserves a scholarship and playing time day one. The walk-on culture is dead because the portal lets you just go somewhere else if you aren't starting by Week 3. I remember watching guys like that fullback from the 94 team who walked on, worked scout team for two years, then became a special teams legend in the 96 Outback Bowl. You cannot manufacture that kind of loyalty in today's game.
These kids will never understand what it meant to earn a jersey through sweat equity. Coach Stallings would find diamonds in the rough during those August two-a-days, kids nobody else wanted who became the heart of our special teams units. Now fall camp is just about which transfer portal guy is gonna start, not about the walk-on who might become a captain three years later. The walk-on pipeline built this program for decades and we just let it die.