Senior guard Sarah Graves didn’t know what a walk-on was when she was a senior at Keller High School in Keller, Texas. After receiving a couple of Division I offers, none from Power Four conferences, she decided to get her degree in finance at McCombs School of Business.
But then she reached out to someone on X, and before she knew it, Graves was on the Texas women’s basketball team.
Through four years, Graves has kept her spot by being the loudest player on the sidelines and the biggest supporter of the team. She works tremendously on her game because when the time comes to play, Graves wants to be ready.
But today, the opportunities for walk-ons like Graves may be dwindling.
In the ever-changing landscape of NCAA regulations, Name, Image and Likeness has taken center stage, and with that, player movement from program to program has never been more prolific.
The transfer portal gives coaches ready-made depth players. Texas football lost 25 guys in the past cycle but gained 19. With NIL and revenue-sharing now in play, roster management has become tighter, with caps in play for each collegiate program. Football has been elevated to 105 scholarships for 105 roster spots from 85 scholarships and no roster cap. But with some programs, like Texas, carrying 140 or more guys in the past, this move has forced coaches to drop many of their walk-on guys.
“Obviously, we have to cut a lot of guys this year. It’s terrible,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said in an interview with On3.com. “It’s the worst thing in my whole coaching career and what’s going on. But we’ve gotta cut a bunch of kids that have been in our program.”
Over 140 spots to 105 is nothing less than terrible.
Michael Taaffe, the team captain and starting safety of the 2025 Texas football team, never came to the Forty Acres for the NIL or for fame. The former walk-on and Burlsworth semifinalist said he came to Austin because he simply loves the Longhorns.
“We’re doing it for the love of the game,” Taaffe said. “I did it because I love the University of Texas, and I wanted to be a part of history.”
Coaches want immediate contributors, whereas walk-ons are guys who must be developed, like Taaffe. With the amount of transfers that enter a portal in a cycle, last year clocking over 10,500 in football, there is simply no time to develop guys, especially in a landscape where coaching changes are as bountiful as ever.
Last year, the Southeastern Conference alone lost five coaches, the most ever in the modern cycle since 2017. With the scholarship expansion, roster limits and NIL allocation strategies, blueprints for seasons are changing once more. And coaches aren’t looking at the bottom of the chain for help.
But Graves sees the glass half full.
“I feel like walk-ons might be a little bit more valued now in this industry,” Graves said. “People are commanding such high salaries that you’re going to want … that (last) spot that (is) adding without taking six figures.”
The walk-on spot still matters. If anything, it matters more. The amount will get more scarce and non-scholarship guys will dwindle off rosters, but the Michael Taaffes and Sarah Graveses of the world won’t disappear.
“The great ones find a way to make it on the field and make an impact on the team,” Taaffe said.
The path will be more competitive than ever before. For the athletes that are still willing to fight for roster spots, the opportunity is not fading away completely.
It’s just getting grayer.
