Gets me on a Saturday evening in the dead of summer? The way this walk-on tradition has completely vanished from programs like ours. Back in the late 80s when we were still in the old SWC, you had kids showing up to fall camp with their own cleats and a dream, sleeping on training room tables because there was no scholarship for them. They earned everything through scout team reps and special teams bruises. Now every kid with a high school highlight tape thinks they deserve NIL money before they have even carrried a water bottle for a single practice.
I remember when we had walk-ons who became the heart and soul of this program. Guys who would run down on kickoff coverage like their lives depended on it because they knew one good hit could earn them a jersey for next week. That culture built the backbone of the 2010 Rose Bowl team. You cannot buy that kind of loyalty with a revenue-sharing check. The $20.5 million cap they are talking about is just going to make it worse because now every scholarship kid thinks they are underpaid and every walk-on knows they will never sniff the field.
The elimination of the spring portal window might help a little but the damage is done. We have kids transferring out because they are buried on the depth chart behind a walk-on who outworked them. That used to be called competition. Now it is called toxic culture. I miss the days when a kid from Fort Worth could show up unannounced, earn a PWO spot, and four years later be lifting a conference trophy with the guys he bled with. That is gone and I do not know if it is ever coming back.