Sports > March 20, 2008

By Andrew LeRay | Staff writer

They are the football players that go unrecognized on campus. They are the basketball players who sit at the end of the bench and never take off their warm-ups. Many dismiss them as insignificant and unimportant to the success of Wake Forest teams, yet no one truly knows the sacrifices they make and hard work they contribute. They are the walk-ons; the non-scholarship players who are not given any slack by their coaches despite the fact they do not receive any scholarships to perform on the field or the court.

click to enlarge

(graphic by Ryan Caldwell and Allison Lange)

While the walk-ons pay the same price as most students, they have twice as much to do.

It is no secret that sacrifices must be made to play Division I football or basketball. Football players, including walk-ons, are routinely expected to lift weights at six or seven in the morning on weekdays, and are called to sacrifice half their summer vacation to return to campus and train in the scorching heat.

“The kids you admire the most are the walk-on players,” Head Football Coach Jim Grobe said. “They’re playing just because they love the game.”

That love of the game is what drives each walk-on player at Wake Forest. Partial scholarships are not even available to athletes playing Division I-A football. Players either have their education paid for in full, or they are given nothing at all.

The decision of whether or not to give an athlete a scholarship can be a difficult one for coaching staffs. For Coach Grobe and the rest of the Wake Forest football coaching staff, there is a checklist of criteria a high school athlete must meet in order to be offered a scholarship. First and foremost the prospective athlete must have good character. Offering a scholarship is an investment by the university, and it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to choose players that will proudly exhibit the ideals of a Wake Forest student.

Secondly, a prospective athlete must be able to handle the academic rigor of Wake Forest. This means the athlete must be able to balance all the demands of being a Division-I athlete on the playing field but most importantly in the classrom. Only after the staff makes these assessments do they determine whether or not the particular player has the athletic ability to play football at the ACC level. If they are capable they will either be offered a scholarship or non-scholarship roster spot.

Even if a football player is offered a non-scholarship spot, they can still earn a scholarship. However, Coach Grobe stressed the fact that scholarships are not given to players simply because they work hard in practice and have been on the team for three years.

“You have to be a for real player,” Grobe said. “I need you to be a guy that’s going to be involved in 20-25 snaps a game. I have to say, ‘We can’t live without this guy.’”

It is a privilege to be a scholarship athlete at Wake Forest, and Grobe and his staff try to convince their team how lucky they truly are.

“My biggest push to our football team is to try to get our scholarship players to understand every day how blessed they are to be a scholarship football player in the ACC,” Grobe said.

If anyone knows how special it is to be a scholarship football player at an ACC school, it would be Jim Grobe. Growing up in Huntington, W.Va., he lost his father when he was only a junior in high school. Grobe played football, baseball and wrestled in high school, and had dreamed of playing football in the ACC. He was told he was too small to get a scholarship, so he enrolled at Ferrum Junior College in Virginia. Grobe paid his own way through two years at Ferrum before being offered a scholarship to play football at the University of Virginia, where he became an Academic All-ACC performer.

“When I was given a scholarship from the University of Virginia and they paid for everything, I thought I had died and gone to heaven,” Grobe said. “I’ve paid my own way and I’ve had my own way paid for, and I can tell you, being on scholarship is a great deal.”

Some suggest college athletes should be paid in addition to their scholarship money, but Grobe scoffs at the idea.

“I almost look at it the other way,” Grobe said. “I think it would be really great if the only guys playing football were playing because they just love the game.”

The guys Grobe refers to are the walk-ons; the ones who have no other motivation to play other than the sheer enjoyment of playing. They are the Daniel “Rudy” Ruettigers of Wake Forest.

According to Grobe it is quite common to have students inquire about walking- on to the football team at Wake, and every so often there are students who make the team. If someone wishes to try out for the team, they should contact Coach Bill Faircloth after returning from winter break in January. Coach Faircloth will then contact the student’s high school and speak to the head football coach in order to learn a little more about their abilities and work ethic. The student will then be able to participate in winter workouts with the team, and eventually spring practice, before the staff decides whether or not the student will be able to help the team in the fall.

In addition to the hard work the football team is known for, the Demon Deacon basketball team also has a reputation to uphold. Competing in the ACC against the likes of perennial powerhouses Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest is pressured to recruit harder each and every year. Known as a tireless recruiter, Associate Head Coach Jeff Battle helps the Deacs bring in fresh talent each season.

“There’s a lot that goes into it,” Battle said. “You have to obviously look at the player, the talent, the athleticism, the quickness; then you have to come back and do your homework on the character of the kid, the academics. The first part of the process is trying to see if that young athlete will fit in with what we are trying to do with our program.”

But the basketball team is not made up only of scholarship players. In the fall, a number of interested students approach Coach Battle about trying out for the basketball team. Tryouts are then held, and a decision is made about which players are capable of playing basketball for Wake Forest. And although the casual fan may not know the names of the basketball walk-ons, you can be sure the coaching staff treats them exactly the same as the scholarship players.

“You’re one of us. You’re going to dress when we dress, you’re not going to have a separate locker room. You’re one of us,” Battle said.

When each of the walk-ons were asked if the coaching staff treats them differently from the other players, all five responded exactly the same way: No.

“I can’t imagine another coaching staff treating walk-ons any better,” junior guard Jimmy McQuilkin said. “We’re never looked down upon.”

The five walk-ons were unanimous on another question posed to them. Each of the walk-ons was recruited to play at smaller Division II or III schools, yet they all turned down the offers for a chance of walking-on to an ACC team. When asked why, all five players said they were more concerned with academics and wanted a Wake Forest education.

Just imagine– a week of exams, papers and possibly a presentation. Now imagine having basketball practice for two and a half hours each night, and a road game in Miami in the middle of the week in addition to your schoolwork. Welcome to the life of the basketball walk-on.Yet none of the walk-ons have any complaints about their academic and athletic workloads.

“It’s definitely stressful but whenever we have time off after the season I’m bored anyway,” junior guard Mike Lepore said.

“It does get stressful sometimes, but basketball helps keep things structured, I like being busy all day,” junior forward Bobby Hoekstra said.

“Definitely at times it does get overwhelming. I might not be able to have grades as high as I would if I wasn’t on the basketball team but the experience of being on the team is incredible and totally worth it,” McQuilkin said.

“I don’t do much else other than school and basketball,” sophomore guard Kyle Fowler said. “I love it.”

Their job on the court is relatively straightforward: run the scout team and help prepare the players for their next match up. In practice, the walk-ons don white jerseys and run the offense of the next opponent, trying to emulate the opposition’s players and offensive strategies. This requires studying film of opponents and learning their offensive plays.

Come game day, the walk-ons’ job is to keep their teammates motivated and act as an extension of the coaching staff. Because the walk-ons know the opposing offense so well, they might yell out instructions on defense if they recognize any offensive play.

They are key components to a successful season, yet receive no accolades from the fans or the media. They receive little playing time, a combined 11 minutes from the five walk-ons this season, but for them its not about the fame, its about living out a dream.

“Yeah there are times when it would be nice to play, but it’s a privilege to be a part of an ACC team and play against these guys every day,” Hoekstra said.

Then there is Jimmy McQuilkin. Listed, perhaps generously at 5’ 10”, McQuilkin tried out as a sophomore and did not make the squad, but was offered a manager job with the understanding he could try out again the next season. After spending a year and a half as a team manager, Coach Gaudio decided to add him as a walk-on player.

“Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind me that, ‘Hey, I’m on an ACC team playing in the Joel Coliseum every night,’” McQuilkin said. “It’s been a thrill.”

Despite being on the squad this year, McQuilkin will have to try out again next season, as his spot on the roster is not guaranteed. But he is not about to give up on basketball all together.

“I’ll definitely be back as a manager if I can’t do it as a player,” McQuilkin said.

There is something extra in every walk-on athlete that others do not possess. Call it a burning desire to compete, an endless passion for sport, or an unsurpassed will to play the game; there is something different about these athletes. They have no motivation to play other than the pure love they have for taking the field or court. Although sometimes students can not imagine living with the pressure and stress of juggling a college workload and playing a Division I sport, some can not imagine living without it.