I know that some have questioned the value of the walkon program, but it's really starting to pay dividends now. Over the last decade, the walkon program has made great strides. Some teams award very few scholarships to walkons, and when they do, they make a big deal out of it. Ohio does the reverse. They give a lot of scholarships to walkons, and do so without much noise.

Where we are is that, because Ohio treats the walkons fairly, and because they award scholarships to a lot of players, the quality of who they can get as a walkon keeps getting higher. Looking at this year's PWOs, there is very, very little difference between the PWOs and the scholarship recruits. I have to say that AJ Ouellette was a perfect example of the success you can get from walkons, and he shows potential walkons that they can come to Ohio and succeed.

As I've said in another post, there are a lot of players on the two-deep who may have been awarded scholarships include Melvin Brooks, Jarren Hampton, Nick Sink, DL Knock, Bryan Long, Jr, Austin Clack, Brody Rodgers, and Devin King, plus technically, Farakas and Zervos both started as walkons, and we also know that Markel Davis and Ja'Vahri Portis just earned scholarships. The fact that preferred walkons really do have a chance to earn a scholarship is clear. I recall hearing that over 50 walkons have now earned scholarships at Ohio under Solich.

When did Ja'Vahri Portis earn a scholarship?

While I didn't look for the tweet, Mike said he tweeted that he got a scholarship for the Spring semester. That doesn't necessarily mean he has one for the rest of his time at Ohio.

I'm going to exclude kickers, punters, and long snappers, since most of them came in as walkons and won the job, but other than them, some walkons that worked hard and became starters (I'm sure I will miss some, so feel free to add to this list):
2005 (.5) Nate Clemons FB
2006 (1) Dave Shelby RT
2007 (0)
2008 (3) Neil Jereb SS, Chad Clemons WLB, AJ Oxley NG
2009 (1.5) Dak Notestine DE, plus the 2d TE (Nate Caldwell, Jahan Olyaie, Adam Olsheski)
2010 (1.5) Dak Notestine DE 2009-10, plus the 2d TE (Nate Caldwell, Jahan Olyaie)
2011 (0)
2012 (2) Corey Hastings NG, Keith Moore LB
2013 (2.2) Keith Moore LB, Kendrick Smith DE, Nic Barber DE (a few games), Neico Teiple SLB (a few games)
2014 (4.5) Kendrick Smith DE, Devin Jones FS, JD Sprague QB, AJ Ouellette RB, Chad Moore LB, Devin Saunders TE (one game)
2015 (3.5) Devin Jones FS, JD Sprague QB, AJ Ouellette RB, Chad Moore LB, Travis Daugherty LB (some games)
2016 (3.1) AJ Ouellette RB, Chad Moore LB, Bradd Ellis CB, Bo Hardy RB (one game)
2017 (3.2) AJ Ouellette RB, Chad Moore LB, Bradd Ellis CB, Tyler Gullett S (some games)
2018 (3) AJ Ouellette, Tyler Gullet SLB 2018, Andrew Payne NG, Chukwudi Chuckwu DE (one game)
2019??? (2.5?) Maybe Jarren Hampton SS, Nick Sink LG, possibly a WR


Others that played a lot, but weren't really starters:
Eric Benjamin SLB
Ryan Clark CB/WR
Kawmae Sawyer WR
Ian Dixon WR
Blake Scipio DB (career ended early due to injury)
Seth Everhart LG (career ended early due to injury)
Mike Terpin CB
Grant Cunningham S
Cody Grillot TE/MLB
Travis Daugherty LB
Jerrid Marhefka WR
Austin Clack LB
David Burroughs RB
DL Knock WR
Markel Davis WR
Jake Neatherton RB
Bryan Long, JR WR
Cameron Gunnels CB

The walkon program is clearly getting stronger. During the first seven years there was an average of about 1 starter a year who was a former walkon. Now it is more like 3 a year.

No, I'm not sure of anything. Sometimes it is very murky who is a scholarship recruit, and who is a grayshirt, and who is a preferred walkon. Here is his recruiting thread, and there is no mention of anything other than being a scholarship recruit:
http://www.bobcatattack.com/messageboard/topic.asp?FromPa...

Here is his officially signing day highlight film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie9yw5NmnwM

Yet, here is Ted's data:
http://www.bobcatattack.com/football/recruiting.asp

If anyone on here knows who is on scholarship, I figure Ted does, and since he doesn't list Brooks, I figure he must have been a grayshirt or walkon.

The real question is if he started out with one when he arrived, or if he earned it?

Hudson got turned around a lot and had numerous penalties. Brooks looked pretty good at times, but also had his moments. I can’t wait to see what drake and burchette can do, I think one of the motley twins was a solid tackler and was decent at times in coverage. I hope that drake and burchette push them hard, Hudson May have to move back to safety.

OK, thanks. I fixed it, and removed him from the list.

That doesn't change the general trend, though, to better and better walkons, and more of them earning starting positions. Yes, on the weaker teams of 2014-15, there were even more walkons as starters, who kept the team from being even weaker, but now, even on strong teams, there are excellent players who were overlooked coming out of high school, and who worked hard, and earned a scholarship.

Some view the fact that walkons become starters as a sign that they recruited poorly, and had a hole. I view it as a sign that out of high school there are going to be some good players overlooked, who will come in, work hard, and continue to improve, and become excellent players. The fact that these players have succeeded means that if a player coming out of high school thinks he is good enough to earn one, if give the chance, there is no reason for him not to come to Ohio, because he can see that he will be treated fairly, and if he plays well, he can earn one.

From the 6 PWOs this year, who do you think will be the first PWO to earn a scholly ??