Two UTC current and former student athletes explained the difficulties of being a walk-on on the UTC football team.
Being a full-time college student and a member of the football team can be hard to balance. Add being a walk-on, it can be very overwhelming. A walk-on in college athletics is a member of the team that does not receive financial aid or benefits for being a participant of the team. There is also a stigma that coaches overlook walk-on players and don’t take them seriously when searching for the best guys to give the team a chance to win. These walk-ons have the pressure of balancing demanding hours from their team while keeping up with classes, all while having to pay for school as a normal student would. The team demands of a lot of their time and has a very demanding schedule, leaving the rest of their time for academics and almost none for free time and relationship building.
Ryan Perry, now a senior and former walk-on member of the 2015 UTC football team during his freshman year, said one of the most difficult things about balancing school and football is that he had so much to worry about from the two and not much time to do anything else. “I came here from Knoxville and I had very little time to make friends and communicate with family, I had to start from scratch and it was difficult with all of my time being committed to football and my studies,” said Perry. “I knew what I was getting into but it quickly became a lot more than I expected.”
Perry said that there are some significant benefits when it comes to academics though. “It’s not like we get a free grade, but we do have tutors and mandatory study hall as freshmen. I was actually a better student when I was on the team,” said Perry with a little bit of a chuckle.
When asked if he felt overlooked by the coaches as a walk-on, Perry said, “There’s always a little bit of speculation, but I believe if you can play, they are going to put you on the field.”
Perry no longer plays for the team but he said his decision to move on didn’t have anything to do with how challenging it was. “Half-way into the season, I realized I wanted to dedicate my time to my faith and start getting more serious about being a youth leader. I still love football and I would not tell someone considering being a walk-on student athlete to not do it, just be ready to work,” said Perry.
Sophomore walk-on football player Christian Snyder gave specific details of what his typical week looked like. “We have Mondays off then Tuesday really starts the week,” said Snyder. “We have a 7 a.m. meeting on Tuesday and a 7 a.m. workout on Friday. Tuesday through Friday we have meetings starting at 1:30 p.m. and then practice that ends around 5:30 p.m.”
Football players must fit all of their classes into times that do not interfere with any of football activities. “Really, the homework is no problem, it’s just studying for the tests and keeping up with all of the class material,” said Snyder. “When you come home from a long day of classes and meetings and practice, the last thing you want to do is look at a book or a piece of paper, you want to play video games, or take a nap or something like that, you know?”
Snyder doesn’t mind all the time it takes up though. “I don’t know what else I would be doing if it weren’t for football, it is my life and I feel blessed to be able to play the game as long as I can,” said Snyder.
Snyder said he thinks all walk-ons at some point have felt over-looked but he doesn’t want to use it as an excuse. “At the end of the day, it is what it is and you’ve got to keep working hard to get better, and hope your chance will come,” said Snyder. He agreed with Perry that he would urge someone considering being a walk-on to go through with it.
When asked what kept him motivated he said, “Really, most people think it’s all about proving the doubters wrong, but I want to prove my supporters right. I want to go home and tell my family that I am succeeding and I just try to work hard every day to get to where I want to be. Sometimes it tears me up that I haven’t played yet, but it keeps me motivated.”