Nebraska football’s matchup against Wisconsin is worth circling for a number of reasons as the end of the regular season is quickly approaching,
This marks head coach Matt Rhule’s last opportunity to earn a berth to a bowl game at home and will be the farewell ceremony for roughly 30 Huskers with the senior day ceremony set to take place before the game.
Rhule understands the weight that this game will have, not just because of the implications, but because it also represents a larger paradigm shift within college football.
“Hopefully everyone embraces this moment because this is kind of the end of an era,” Rhule said Monday. “We’ve out-legislated the true walk-on programs in college football and this is the last group of kids that will do that.”
Rhule’s statements come amidst the changes that will be put in place as a result of the House v. NCAA settlement. There will be new regulations across all collegiate athletics, but for football, the most impactful changes come in the new roster limitations. A Nebraska roster that currently has around 150 players listed will now have to downsize to around 105 players ahead of the 2025 season.
One of the players who will walk for the Huskers on Saturday is Lincoln native and walk-on linebacker Grant Buda.
“A 3.9 student. Made his way into camp because of the work he did this summer. Made the elite list every week. Wants to be an NFL orthopedic surgeon,” Rhule said of Buda. “In the future, I’ll have to tell that kid ‘Hey, you can’t be here anymore.’ For a guy that’s wired like me, that’s absolutely heartbreaking.”
Coaches all across college football are likely going to have to tell even more guys to enter the portal due to the limited spots. In an era of football that has already seen the portal become heavily saturated, it is only going to see an increase once the current season comes to an end.
Combine fringe roster players who are fighting for a spot with the usual players who are unhappy with their current playing situations and the transfer portal is set to take a chaotic leap. Limited roster spots and more players in the portal than ever will make the FBS a desert for players without a home. However, Rhule anticipates that it could have implications all across college football.
“Just think about 20-30 guys from every school having to hit the portal and the effect that it is going to have on the FCS, Division II, NAIA, and Division III,” Rhule said.
With many coaches across the FBS division having to go through the same struggle as Rhule, it is seemingly likely that there will be fewer feel-good walk-on stories to celebrate. Some recent notable walk-ons include Stetson Bennett who led Georgia to two consecutive national championships in 2021 and 2022. Current Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield started as a walk-on at Texas Tech before he transferred to Oklahoma. During Rhule’s stint at Temple, Haason Reddick was a walk-on who was eventually taken in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
It is likely that guys who fit this archetype would have had to go play at much smaller schools in the era college football is about to enter. Roster spots are going to be more selective than ever and now players may have to settle for the best opportunities available. It is likely that divisions below the FCS could be more talented than they have ever been before.
In the 2024 NFL Draft, 11 FCS players were selected. With the forecasted influx in talent, it could be possible that even more FCS players have their names called in the 105-man roster era. The 2022 draft had one of the highest number of subdivision players selected in recent history and it appears that there could be a reality where this number is regularly exceeded in the coming years.
Though walk-on players may get chances elsewhere, they are sometimes the heart and soul that helps the team keep churning. Oftentimes walk-on players are homegrown talents that take pride in wearing a college football uniform. They are beloved by fans and even the coaches themselves.
“We have some kids on our team that all they want to do is go out and be a Husker,” Rhule said. “They just want to practice and help the team.”
There are kids who grow up their whole lives wanting to wear a Nebraska uniform, but now even fewer athletes will get to fulfill their dreams. Senior linebacker John Bullock is a player who might be the last of his kind. Bullock arrived at Nebraska in 2019 and it was not until the 2023 season that he earned his first start. A trend that is likely going to become a rare sight.
“How many guys have you seen announce, ‘Hey I’ve been offered a preferred walk-on spot at the University of Nebraska,’” Rhule said. “You probably have not seen very many this year, because I don’t want to make a promise I can’t keep.”
Walk-ons have helped players earn opportunities not just on the field, but even on coaching staffs as well. Long before Rhule took his first head coaching job at Temple he was a walk-on for Penn State in the 90s.
“For me, as a former walk-on, for my strength coach who was a walk-on, for (Marcus Satterfield) who was a walk-on, I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t been able to walk on at Penn State University,” Rhule said.
With Saturday being the last home game before the roster changes take place it should be a day of varying emotions. Some guys will get to walk the field for the last time as they have reached the end of their eligibility, while others simply will not have a spot.
In an age where the transfer portal, realignment and NIL have changed college football to be unrecognizable from the eras that preceded it, the decline of walk-on players may be the title to a new chapter.
sports@dailynebraskan.com
