Stanford Surprises Walk On With Scholarship, Entire Team Goes Wild

SteveHolt10 years ago

I’ll be honest, even though some of you might consider these videos contrived or monotonous, I don’t care. I really enjoy the new viral “surprise a walk-on with a scholarship” trend. It’s really cool to see some of these walk-ons get a chance to play football without worrying about the financial strains of going to college. Especially at expensive private schools, like Stanford, where it isn’t easy to balance school and football.

Stanford coach David Shaw surprised walk-on linebacker Craig Jones with a scholarship at the end of a football practice this week. It wasn’t a big spectacle, and it clearly took Jones by surprise. His reaction is great, and so is the reaction of the entire team — who mobbed him right after it happened.

Playing as a scout team tackling dummy for a major college football program requires a lot out of a player. It can be brutal, and for very little reward. Most programs will let walk-ons dress out for home games and let them travel to the bowl game, a cool benefit if your team doesn’t suck. If they do suck, you are SOL. It’s basically a full-time job, and you could argue that it is even harder than being a starter/special teams player.

I said last week that it would be just as interesting to see a viral video of one of these coaches yanking a scholarship from a kid, an obvious joke, and I got harped on pretty hard for it. Don’t be so sensitive, guys.

Good for this guy. Here is to hoping he has a good season in Palo Alto this fall..