The University of Tennessee will be holding walk-on football tryouts on Monday, January 29 at 6 p.m. It’s for any students who believe they have a chance to play for the big orange that aren’t already on scholarship at Tennessee.
Tennessee Football Walk-On Tryouts are slated for Jan. 29! 🍊🏈 pic.twitter.com/3hXrCrN9VK
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) January 18, 2018
Walk on-football tryouts for any major collegiate program are basically an agility camp put on by the university because they are required to find tackling dummies for the scholarship players.
There were some quality replies to the tweet:
— G. Andrew Brigham (@guearybrigham) January 18, 2018
Can a tweet still be quality with a spelling error this egregious? We’ll let it slide.
I am onky a 1 star but have a 5 star heart! Does that fly with @CoachJPruitt ?
— Sterling Sanders (@TheFireMan1256) January 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Dark_Knight_VFL/status/954132771672330240
However, not every walk-on football player is a dud. You probably recognize some of these names, who were all former walk-ons:
Clay Matthews: Matthews wasn’t necessarily a phenomenal college football player, but if he had never walked on at USC, we wouldn’t know about the long, blonde-haired monster that seems to be on every commercial ESPN airs.
Brandon Weeden: Weeden was an absolute stud at Oklahoma State and almost took them to a National Championship in his tenure with the Pokes. He was then drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2012, and i don’t even have to tell you where this story goes.
Jordy Nelson: Aaron Rodgers favorite target was a walk on at Kansas State in 2003 and redshirted his first season. Bill Snyder originally put Nelson on defense but quickly realized that his talents were best utilized on offense and the rest is history.
J.J. Watt: Arguably one of the best defensive lineman in college football history was a walk on at Wisconsin in 2008. He ended his final season as an All-Big Ten and All-American player and notched the 2010 Lott IMPACT Award.
Ezekiel Ansah: The Detroit Lions sack machine went to BYU with the intent to play basketball. When that didn’t pan out, he attempted to join the track team before he inevitably walked on to the football team in 2010. He tore up teams in the west and caught attention from major NFL scouts.
With Jeremy Pruitt now at the helm of the greatest fan base in college football, it’s the students chance to join a fresh new team and help join the revival of a program.
