There seems to be a major leap forward taken this year especially in our Preferred Walk-On program at Ohio State. Many 2*s that had lower level scholarship opportunities as well as some 3*s that could have played D-1 ball, even some at a P5 school. This seems like a new strategic development.
It reminds me of how Nebraska used to be known in the 80s-90s for it's preferred walk-on program. They took the best of those kids who could have played on scholarship elsewhere. It's a source of great pride in Nebraska, which Bill Callahan essentially tried to kill in the time he ruined Nebraska football. http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/a-complete-history-of-husker-walk-ons-in-the-nfl/article_dc00dc36-0bd6-11e6-a03e-4fccc11c5b3c.html
And while it's rare that a player who started as a walk-on gets drafted, it's not unheard of.
Out of thousands and thousands of football players that have been through the program, Nebraska has had 354 players selected in the NFL draft. Many of those were much-hyped recruits, guys with recruiting stars to spare who clearly caught the eye of coaches enough to gain a scholarship offer, or more often, a number of scholarship offers from multiple schools.
But an even smaller group — 25 young men, or about seven percent of NU's draftees — came into the program with no scholarship and no promise of playing time. They, more than others, had to prove not only that they were capable of having an impact on the field, but that they even deserved a spot on the roster.
This year we've seen a huge leap in the number of preferred walk-on offers to mainly 2* Ohio footballers...with some 3* athletes who actually had Power 5 offers.
TOP Ohio D1 football talent has been down in recent years. Urban also recruits nationally more than someone like Tressel. So we've seen (and fretted about) less Ohio kids on the OSU roster. But NOW we're taking a lot of great Ohio footballers as Preferred Walk-Ons. Perhaps this will do for OSU what it did for Nebraska in the 80s/90s & become a source of great Ohio pride and discovering diamonds in the rough.
I just thought there seemed to be a lot of similarities. And I'm glad that a lot of Ohio guys get a chance/opportunity to fulfill their life-long dreams of being Buckeyes.
