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Status of "Walking-on" at Arkansas college football programs (D1 & D2)?

Started by Grond, May 20, 2015, 11:58:20 pm

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Grond

So, what is the status of football players trying to Walk-on at Arkansas colleges & universities?

My recent experience has been mainly at D2 colleges [ATU, Harding, HSU, OBU, SAU, & UAM]. Here is what I was able to find out over the spring:

Ark. Tech - Had a "high school" recruiting camp in March. Heard there were forty boys, and they took two! (NOTE: This has not been confirmed.)

But I never could find the ATU camp on the internet. A flyer was sent out to various high school coaches.

SAU - Had open tryouts, but the info was somewhat buried in their website. Although, info was sent to targeted players.  :)

UAM - Had open tryouts, and was publicized on UAM website.

And that is it. Could not find where HSU, Harding, or OBU even listed tryouts. Maybe it was invitation only?

Again, would be curious to hear about D1. I am no internet gu-ru, maybe I just couldn't find the info?

The_Pioneer

Being private schools, it's reasonable they didn't have open tryouts.

Grond

Quote from: The_Pioneer on May 21, 2015, 05:33:09 pm
Being private schools, it's reasonable they didn't have open tryouts.

Good point. I could have sworn that in 2014 that Harding had Tryouts. And I could be completely wrong. :-\

It was interesting that at the SAU & UAM Tryouts, they talked about being constrained by NCAA rules, such as how long the Tryouts could last.

Lions84

OBU used to have tryouts but it was invitation only.  I got an invite from Buddy Benson but my folks had a fit saying you have 2 years paid for at the local Jr. College.  In retrospect I wish I had went down and tried out.

Grond

By the way, the coaching staffs at SAU and UAM did an EXCELLENT job of running and controlling tryouts.

It was NOT a "free for all". Yes, young men are trying hard to make the team, and football is violent. But both staffs maintained order, and worked to make a safe experience.

Longfellow

Who is the O-Line coach at SAU? Is it the same guy they had a few years ago?

Grond


Grond

Well, here is a little more "Walk-on" information, that we have learned.

There are two types of walk-ons:

Recruited Walk-on - In this case, you are asked to 'try out' for the team. If you perform well enough at try outs, you are essentially treated like an unpaid signee. [Signee - someone who was given some level of athletic scholarship]  A Recruited Walk-on starts practice at the same time as the rest of the team. :D

Standard Walk-on - Only allowed to start practicing when school starts.  :(

Some schools treat both types of Walk-ons the same, while others give Standard Walk-ons much less opportunity to receive coaching or training. :-[

And....I am no expert on this, so feel free to comment.  :-\

RabidWolf

Heard SAU had close to 70 kids at their tryout, charged $40 a kid and didn't take a single one.

Mohawk 54

rabidwolf, they had over 100 at $40 a kids and your right, didn't ask a single one to walk on. Maybe that's why they were 5 and 5 last year.

Grond

Quote from: RabidWolf on September 05, 2015, 02:53:24 am
Heard SAU had close to 70 kids at their tryout, charged $40 a kid and didn't take a single one.
Quote from: Mohawk 54 on September 06, 2015, 12:04:23 pm
rabidwolf, they had over 100 at $40 a kids and your right, didn't ask a single one to walk on. Maybe that's why they were 5 and 5 last year.

There were 60 to 70 kids at SAU, and it did cost $40 per kid to compete. I know because.....I was there with my son.

If you go to the SAU football website, you will see several players that do not have numbers; I think those are mainly walk-ons. I recognize several of the OL & DL from the tryouts.

I was at the tryouts for SAU and UAM, and both schools conducted professional & safe tryouts. Both universities took 10+ football players at their tryouts.

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