Coaches Search for Preferred Walk-Ons?

I was told this going through the process as a mid-major/high D2 level talent - you can buy a hat for $25 and call it a day, or you can go be a college baseball player somewhere they need you and you can contribute. Once I got over the division thing everything changed. Whatever ends up being the best fit for you academically is the priority, with athletics as a secondary evaluation. If that is a lower level then do it. If you have aspirations to play professionally one day and have the talent to do so, it won't matter what Division you play in.

 

To answer your question - my preferred walk on offers at D1's had the same recruiting process as the baseball scholarship offers, just without as much money talk. Same concepts, just more figures being thrown around with financial aid and not the baseball people (who generally did their research to let me know what type of full package I could receive between academics and athletics).

So here is what I understand the difference is (and bombsquad certainly touched on it). D! has 27 athletic scholarship player and a possibility of 35 on roster which means 8 are considered "preferred walk ons or walk ons". I find the difference is a preferred walk on, the college recruits you (as bomb squad said). They may over recruit which is another topic all to itself but they do recruit you. a "walk on" try out in fall at open tryouts. To get from there to the team you would have to do something really eye opening (Velo, run really well, hit with power, etc), because you would be replacing a preferred walk on that coach asked to come.

 

At my son's college, I have no idea who is on scholarship and who isn't but I could probably guess right in most of them. But I do know everyone of them was invited to be on the team prior to coming to campus.

 

It is something you very much want to research if you are determined to go to a particular school or 2.  In my son's case, they have 32-33 on roster every year and have for over 7 years (that is as far back as I looked)instead of max 35. If you are invited unless you give them a reason not to keep you at end of fall practice (non baseball), you are on the team. No guarantee about playing time, traveling with team, etc but you are on the team. I know of other colleges that they bring in more than 35 in fall and some are cut. All those cut are non athletic scholarship players because even if you cut them and they are on athletic scholarship, they count towards the 35, unless there is less than 35 on roster, then I guess they could have cut someone on athletic scholarship (but honestly unlikely).

 

Over last 6 years at least no one that was not invited and went to open try outs in fall has made my son's team.

 

That being said, I do know our coach many times has guaranteed walk on a freshman and rewards them with athletic scholarship is later years for those that are contributing in some way.

 

I do think you should look at where you have an opportunity to play, amazing how many come to D1 and transfer because of lack of playing time. But then 35 spots and reality maybe 11 or so position players and 8 pitchers get much playing time. maybe 3-4 others get a small amount (12-15 inning a pitcher/ 10-AB at position).. That leave over 10 with ZERO playing time.

chefmike,

 

A fully funded D-1 program has 11.7 scholarships. The NCAA ruled that anyone receiving an athletic scholarship must receive at least a 25% scholarship.  So, some schools may have roughly 25 guys on athletic scholarship, while many will have considerably less.

I know two kids who went the preferred walk on route last year as frosh, one is at a strong state school with good academics.  the other is at a  lesser  D1 school baseball wise, but it's a selective private school  with excellent academics.  Unlike the situation described by chef mike, these coaches promised neither kid anything except an opportunity.  Neither made the team at his respective school.  The kid at the state school was cut within three  days after fall practices began.  Don't know how long the kid at the private school lasted.  But I do know that he is happy at the school, despite not making the team.  Though the other kid is at a fine state university, he still wants to play and is thinking about transferring.  He played on the school's club team this year, in the end, and so got his baseball jones in that way. 

 

I gather that life as a preferred walk on can  be quite precarious at many institutions.  I'd make sure I wanted to be at the school even if baseball didn't quite work out. I'd also try to make very clear exactly what was being offered -- a definite roster spot, or just an opportunity to compete for one. 

Redbird.  Thanks for info.  I continue to learn on here.  Hadn't thought of it that way.

To add to that D2's can have 9 scholarships (no limits on %) - again that depends on whether they are fully funded.  My son's D2 had 9 on scholarship and only 28 on the roster.  That means 19 had no athletic $$, but those without athletic money were definitely invited by the coach.  They did have a one day "tryout" in the fall for any one who had not been "invited", but none of those made the cut.

 

It can be hard enough to make a team as a walk on. Once on the roster the player starts out as player 28-35. Typically only twenty get playing time. Walking on is a huge hill to climb. I wonder about the percentage of walk ons with successful college careers that are late blooming pitchers.

 

How would you feel if you make the roster but rarely play for four years? It's an awful lot of work for a great seat in the dugout.

Most players need to get over the "division" stigma.  Go where your are wanted and can play.  Preferred walk-on as mentioned is a tough hill to climb.  Most players, not all, when recruited as pref walk-on are not high on the RC list. Depending on the position (ie..catcher or pitcher) a player will get the walk-on offer so RC/HC can evaluate the talent while serving as a practicing hand.  I know many players who go to their "dream" school only to transfer after sitting on the bench for a couple of years or getting let go.  More often then not a player who goes to the school they want to play at will end up transferring to the school where they can play.

the 11.7 must be divided by a minimum of 27 players....anyone on the roster after those 27 is a walk on or preferred walk on....no baseball money

Is this entirely correct?  I don't believe that 27 players HAS to receive athletic money.  D1 limits it that NO MORE than 27 can receive athletic money (and any receiving money must receive a minimum of 25%).

 

Is it not allowable for a D1 team to have 35 players (max roster limit) with 27 eligible for athletic money (max allowable to receive athletic money) but only actually giving athletic money to 20 of them?

 

Nuke - I believe you are correct, that is my understanding as well.

Nuke83, there is no requirement that 27 players receive a baseball scholarship.  27 is the maximum number that can receive a baseball scholarship, but some coaches choose to give scholarships to only 22 or 25 guys, for example.

There is no requirement that 27 get scholarships.

...and a lot of programs do not fund the full 11.7. 

Yep, theoretically, a coach can give 11 full scholarships and one for .7.  I could never see that happening, but it is possible.  27 is the max, not the minimum.

I recollect an ACC coach saying since He plans on playing about twenty he's going to give twenty scholarships.

I do know of at least one ACC school that has separate baseball funds (so I assume there are a lot more schools that also have this).  A co-worker donates $1000 to her son's former team to be awarded to a current player.  I don't think that counts toward the 11.7....but it might?

keewart, that $1000 will count toward the 11.7 - or I should say it's supposed to!!!

Rick, where does the 11.7 scholarship dollars come from?  Donors?  Football/basketball program proceedes?  NCAA (ha)?  And the reason some schools are not fully funded is because they don't have donors/football/basketball?  I can see why coaches may love instate students unless they are a very rich program!

keewart, scholarship funds can come from a number of sources - donors, from basketball or football ticket sales, broadcast rights or sponsorship fees, or at some schools, from the university itself or from student fees. 

 

Also, funds can come from the NCAA!  The NCAA distributes funds to the universities based on a number of factors, including the number of teams sponsored by a university, the number of scholarships awarded by each university, how many teams from that conference were in the March Madness basketball tournament, etc.  If you or anyone else actually wants to read about this in more detail, here's a link to a page of the NCAA website, that although not current, actually gives a good overview.

 

http://www.ncaa.org/about/reso...nances/distributions

 

The bottom line to your previous post is that all scholarship money awarded by the coach to an athlete is to be counted in the 11.7 - including the $1000 in the example of your co-worker.

While I agree that a walk-on faces an uphill climb, sometimes it does work out. Example is Scott Kingery, 2nd round pick this year out of the University of Arizona. Zero D-1 offers out of high school. Story here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/s...ing_to_pro_ball.html

 

I love this quote: ". . .coming out of high school, it's kind of tough when you don't have any offers."

As the parent of a size-challenged guy who can, nonetheless,  swing it and can catch just about anything, I love this story.  The little guys always have something to prove.  And some of them do manage to  prove it, now and then.

 As they say " The big kid has to prove he can't play and the little kid has prove that he can play"

I know of a school that does this sort of thing where they solicit donations from alumni or parents, but they are not fully funded at 11.7 scholarships (more like 6). This is one way to get around not being fully funded.

So, in your example of a school that is funded at 6 scholarships, then solicits donations from parent and alumni...can they go over the amount equal to 11.7?

 

I guess this is really tricky when you account for out of state students in that 11.7, and that could change from year to year?

 

No vested interest (unless I plan to be a donor one day rather than the recipient)...just wondering how it works.

No, they can't exceed the 11.7.  The donations in birdman's example could make up the difference between the 6 and 11.7, but can't exceed it. 

Can a baseball player who is NOT part of the 11.7 but part of the team, get a job to help pay for school? In other words, they would not be receiving any athletic assistance from the school but may be getting some financial aid, (their status might be preferred walk on) can that student get a job and play baseball for the university?? 

It just seems like it would open the door for abuse by schools. 

 

Yes, a player can get a job to help pay for school.  But, understand that the time commitment related to college baseball is roughly equivalent to a full time job.  So, between the school and study and the baseball commitment, working a job for any significant hours is challenging. 

The time commitments to classes, studying, baseball games, practice, weight room and conditioning make it prohibitive for a student athlete to have a job while he is in school. They definitely can get internships and work over the summer to earn some extra income.