Today is the walk-on tryout.  This afternoon the indoor facility will be filled with 65-80 freshman with the dreams of running out of the tunnel onto Lavell’s field.  For most, it will be a disappointment, but a select few will receive their issue gear and step onto the field this afternoon.

The tryouts last no longer than an hour.  The coaching staff will be watching their perspective positions.  The walk-ons run through some position drills, as the coaches watch.  In that one hour work-out the coaching staff assess the abilities and most of all, the look of each player.  I really don’t understand how the coaches can find the best players in an hour, but amazingly they do.  I know that some of the guys on the field will be “preferred walk-ons”, which means that the coaches didn’t think that a scholarship should have been given to the player in the fall, but the player could walk-on and hopefully make the team and then earn a scholarship.

In the past few years, Coach Mendenhall has become known for giving a number of walk-on players scholarships.  With these scholarships, came a lot of hard work and many bumps and bruises.  Coach Mendenhall likes the walk-on player because they represent the true desire to be part of the team.  Unlike the scholarship player, they come to football each day because they want to prove themselves.  They aren’t there because the coaches wanted them to be, but because they possessed enough talent to get noticed and to help on scout teams.  In Bronco’s eyes, the scholarship player has to have an internal desire to succeed, which with time, and disappointments can fade.  The walk-on will play through the beatings, a 6 a.m. lift, no Y stickers on their helmets (they have to earn them), and the feeling of being on the team but not on the team.  It is a tough road and I highly respect every player that plays as a walk-on for any amount of time.

A lot of the time these players develop into some of the most respected and liked players on the team.  Ben Criddle was a guy that everyone grew to love.  He had an infectious personality and found ways to really set himself apart from the crowd.  Most notable he and fellow walk-on Gary Shiedy wrote and preformed a song about “being a walk-on” at our year end banquette.  It brought the house down, and referenced the no stickers rule, the being ignored by coaches, the alternative shower, and the over-sized jerseys they normally have to wear.  Other great walk-on players have been Corby Hodgkiss, a good friend and a great player.  He walked on and stuck to it long enough to play in every game his senior year and ended up being a very key player as the ‘07 season went on.  Of course, there is Nate Meikle, who was known for his great hands and great motor, but he was also one of the strongest kids in the weight-room.  He could power clean three times his body weight, which is amazing.  Other players which have come along and made a significant impacts were Zac Collie, who endured injuries, disappointments, and then prevailed to be a go to guy for the offense.  Joe Semenoff who scored in the 05′ New Mexico game, helped us win a crucial game in the Mountain West Conference.  There are even walk-on guys in my own family.  My older brothers Scott and Dave walked-on at BYU and contributed to the cause, also my brother Doug was a walk-on basketball player for the Utes.  I know, we forgave him, he’s a great guy despite his past.  There have been a number of others that have contributed in other ways and to those players I say thank you.  Thank you for working so hard and being the guy that made us scholarship players dig a little deeper, because we didn’t want to get beat by a walk-on.