Just saw Colorado trotted out 43 portal transfers this spring and I about spit out my coffee. Deion is out here running a free agency camp not a football program. Back in the 1998 season when Coach Curran was building our NE-10 contenders we had maybe two transfers in four years and one of them was a kid from Assumption who walked on and earned every single rep in practice before he ever saw the field on Saturday. That kid showed up in August with a duffel bag and a dream and by October he was starting because he outworked everybody. Not because he had a recuriting ranking or a NIL deal waiting for him.
The walk on culture is completely dead and that breaks my heart more than anything else about modern football. Remember when we used to have that open tryout every August and youd see 40 kids from the student body show up in grass stained cleats hoping to get a look? Some of our best special teams guys in the early 2000s came from those tryouts. Kids who loved the game so much they were willing to get hit in practice every day for zero scholarship just to wear the Falcon on their helmet. Now those kids dont even bother because they know the roster is full of portal mercenaries who are just passing through for a season or two before they hit the portal again.
The 1994 squad had a walk on defensive end who ended up being team captain his senior year. He worked construction during the summer to pay for his own meals because the scholarship money ran out. That kind of grit builds a culture you cant buy with a $20.5 million revenue sharing cap. You cant portal your way into having a kid who bleeds your colors because he earned his spot the hard way.
I watch these spring games now and I dont recognize half the names on the roster. Theyll be gone by December anyway. The walk on made college football what it was. Now its just a business transaction.