Anonymous
Post 05/19/2024 14:59     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
My DH did this at a DI soccer program about 20 years ago. This was at a huge school with a somewhat middle of the road soccer program. He loved the team but only played in a few games over three years. Didn’t play senior year after he realized he’d never get playing time and wanted to do an abroad program instead. I would be surprised if this was still possible. The sports culture has changed so much now, everyone seems to be a recruitable semi professional player at age 16.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2024 14:36     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:FYI, just posted above re: NESCAC recruiting. I am reading about over recruiting in some posts and it does seem like that is a thing in some schools. That is not the case from what I saw with NESCAC. The schools are hard to get in and expensive. There are a lot of interested players who want to play but by the time you narrow the pool to those who can get in (even with coach support you need good grades/scores/etc.), afford the school (most NESCAC do not have merit and though most are need blind, they are very expensive schools if full pay), and play at the competitive level, the numbers shrink dramatically. Therefore, I don’t the coaches are over recruiting which is why I think they welcome walk-ons (if you have the talent).


I had two kids who were recruited athletes at NESCACs and I never heard of a walk on playing at all. These colleges take their sports seriously, and the standard is high in that conference - quality recruits with good academics are rare, and they go all out to find them.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2024 09:22     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
FYI, just posted above re: NESCAC recruiting. I am reading about over recruiting in some posts and it does seem like that is a thing in some schools. That is not the case from what I saw with NESCAC. The schools are hard to get in and expensive. There are a lot of interested players who want to play but by the time you narrow the pool to those who can get in (even with coach support you need good grades/scores/etc.), afford the school (most NESCAC do not have merit and though most are need blind, they are very expensive schools if full pay), and play at the competitive level, the numbers shrink dramatically. Therefore, I don’t the coaches are over recruiting which is why I think they welcome walk-ons (if you have the talent).
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2024 09:12     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
My kiddo just went through NESCAC recruiting. This is my take. The coaches would love a walk-on if they are good enough. The competition for the spots on these teams is, I think, harder than some parents may realize, especially those of us who played 30+ years ago. So even though D3 the kids at the NESCAC schools are playing at a pretty high level. But in my kids sport, the teams are not huge and I got the sense that the coaches would love a walk-on if they are able to get in the school and play at the level of the team. The big question is whether your kid will be able to play at that level. I think some kids may be D1 level and some are not.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 23:47     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My suspicion is that at a NESCAC, probably not. Those guys are all DI caliber athletes who chose to attend those schools. Probably more likely at other DIII schools.



The NESCAC conference is among the best D3 in the nation and most of those schools are amongst the most academically rigorous. The fact is, most of those schools have their pick of the best D3/low end D1 athletes (assuming they have the grades as well…which is a big if).


And I meant to add, none of these schools have walk ons that play, in any sport.


That’s a serious exaggeration.


No it absolutely is not. NESCAC take their recruiting very seriously, big wins equals big donations.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 23:25     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My suspicion is that at a NESCAC, probably not. Those guys are all DI caliber athletes who chose to attend those schools. Probably more likely at other DIII schools.


Hahahaha. Maybe water polo or something esoteric. In a revenue sport, or even a main Olympic sport like track and field or wrestling, the NESCACs would be slaughtered by most D1 sports. The ivies are D1 and it’s an even when they beat a P5 team.


In tennis, they are more often than not athletes who could easily play D1 at other schools.


There are now D1 players that are literally pro tennis players that sometimes have tournament fees paid by their schools. There was a recent article about a UNC player that was allowed to win prize money but somehow went sideways with the NCAA for getting reimbursed for restringing her racquets. It was strange.

You claiming that D3 tennis players are that level?


Pp is way wrong about d3 vs d1 tennis

The gap between d3 and d1 tennis is larger than soccer.

D3 and d1 tennis players physically don’t even look like the same species such is the divergence in height / limb length (on the men’s side)



It’s like school team and club and intramural.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 23:23     Subject: Re:Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:Crew doesn't count. It's not an NCAA sport.


Check your facts. It’s an NCAA D1/D3 sport for women and recruitable D1/D3 sport for men (different governing body).
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 23:11     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of volleyball players from this region who are walk-ons at D1 schools.


If by “walk-on” you mean non-scholarship but recruited athletes (i.e., a preferred walk-on), then yes I would agree. If you mean there are D1 volleyball players who just show up at the coach’s door after getting to college and try out and earn a spot on the team, I don’t think that happens much, if ever.

Most D1 volleyball programs have 16 or more players on the roster but only 12 scholarships (which's can’t be split amongst players for a head count sport like volleyball) so for most schools at least 1/4 of the roster are “walk-ons”.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 21:47     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
I walked on D1 new to the sport, qualified for the travel team and got to regionals by my senior year.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 21:42     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My suspicion is that at a NESCAC, probably not. Those guys are all DI caliber athletes who chose to attend those schools. Probably more likely at other DIII schools.



The NESCAC conference is among the best D3 in the nation and most of those schools are amongst the most academically rigorous. The fact is, most of those schools have their pick of the best D3/low end D1 athletes (assuming they have the grades as well…which is a big if).


And I meant to add, none of these schools have walk ons that play, in any sport.


That’s a serious exaggeration.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 21:38     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My suspicion is that at a NESCAC, probably not. Those guys are all DI caliber athletes who chose to attend those schools. Probably more likely at other DIII schools.



The NESCAC conference is among the best D3 in the nation and most of those schools are amongst the most academically rigorous. The fact is, most of those schools have their pick of the best D3/low end D1 athletes (assuming they have the grades as well…which is a big if).


And I meant to add, none of these schools have walk ons that play, in any sport.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 21:37     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Anonymous wrote:My suspicion is that at a NESCAC, probably not. Those guys are all DI caliber athletes who chose to attend those schools. Probably more likely at other DIII schools.



The NESCAC conference is among the best D3 in the nation and most of those schools are amongst the most academically rigorous. The fact is, most of those schools have their pick of the best D3/low end D1 athletes (assuming they have the grades as well…which is a big if).
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 21:14     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Definitely still exists for gymnastics. Especially for in state students eligible for state scholarships or lower fees anyway, gymnasts often want to compete for a better team with no extra money than a worse team that will give them cash. UCLA, Utah, Georgia, Florida -all definitely have walk ons that compete. Occasionally those kids earn a scholarship, usually when something happens with a scholarship a coach thought was taken at the last minute.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 20:46     Subject: Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
It is for running - both track and XC. You can even see the typical race times needed for these different levels (recruit to walk-on) listed online for each event for each school.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2024 19:05     Subject: Re:Do walk-ons still exist in college sports?
Do walk-ons still exist in college sports ?

In the case of Forest Gump, it was a run-on.