Non-Recruited D1 Walk-on

you'll find out in a couple of days. noone here can possibly answer those questions. in fact, it is dissapointing that you asked.

Not sure why the previous poster said it's disappointing that you asked. Although I agree that no one can predict such things. It really depends on the school and group of runners that happen to be there at this time. I walked on Penn State a long time ago as mediocre high school runner and was treated as though I was invisible for nearly two months. No gear, no hello's, no one knew my name. I had to beat the entire freshman class at the first big race in order to get noticed. I wasn't wearing a uniform that day, but after that, they issued me a uniform. When the team began to tease me in practice and gave me a nickname, I knew I was no longer invisible. But I still had a long way to go before earning respect.

So should he wait for a reply from Noone?

.............................. wrote:

you'll find out in a couple of days. noone here can possibly answer those questions. in fact, it is dissapointing that you asked.

No, of course you won't get any gear. But your teammates won't give a flying F as long as you kick some tail on the course. Believe me, I know. I walked on and now I'm the only one in the last two years besides Rupp to kick Chelanga's butt in XC.

My experience was great. The team welcomed me on the first practice. I ran with a few guys and we got to know each other. It didn't take long to get tight with rest of them, especially the other freshman. I redshirted my freshman year, so all I got were the same shoes everyone else got and no uniform. I got the same access to the training room as everyone else too. That was nice coming from a small HS with no training staff or equipment at all. Ice baths after every run and trainers waiting to help you with even the slightest injury.

It was crazy all the walk-ons we got that only lasted a few days or weeks over my 5 year stint in college. But one walk on went on to win our conference xc title and sever track titles. Other walk-ons just plain sucked and quit after one easy run.

My experience exactly

It all depends on whether or not you are in the West Coast Conference.

WCC man wrote:

It all depends on whether or not you are in the West Coast Conference.

Other than Portland, I don't know how you're singling out the WCC schools; would you care to elaborate?

I was a non-recruited walk on. I didn't specifically get gear the first month (when you call and tell the coach you'll be going to that school 3 months before the start of practice when he hadn't at that point even heard of you, you probably aren't going to get the first installment of gear). Instead, I got extras from everyone else on the team. I did get shoes and access to the training room, though. The team itself welcomed me like they did any other freshmen. I was not better than any of the recruited people, so I really didn't have any easy days for the first two months, but it was worth it. The result of being worse than everybody else was that I didn't get much attention from the coach until I got significantly better.

Thanks, I am just wanting to know what to expect. I did contact the coach at the end of track season when I ran the standard. This school is a top 25 XC D1 program, so i doubt they don't have gear floating around. But I'm just glad to have the opportunity of running with runners who are nationally recognized.

If you run very well they will embrace you. If not , they will tolerate you until you can be replaced. That's life in the big city.

They give out gear to everyone in the WCC.

You'll probably be fine as long as it's not a top40 d1 program. Then you may still be fine but it might be a lot harder

What is a recruited walk-on??? I thought walk-ons were not recruited...

I think it means the coach didn't even have any contact with you in high school or have you on his list of people coming to run.

A recruited walk-on is anyone that was recruited but doesn't receive any schollie $. There are way more of these than you think.

I think it took me a year and a half to get any shoes and didn't get much of anything until my 3rd year.

Full scholarship in final semester.

I walked on to a second-tier DI school (a now defunct XC program) as an average-decent high schooler (9:46 3200me). My entire freshman year I was fighting not to finish last on my team, but was still able to earn a book scholarship. By my senior year, I had worked up to 75% scholarship and the number 1 runner.

My coach and teammates never looked at me as "the walk-on", I was treated just the same as everyone else. I got the same gear as everybody did all 4 years (shirts, shoes, uniform, etc.) but we also only had 8 men on the team.

Way back in the 70's, PSU had many walk-ons. Coach Groves welcomed almost anyone willing to put in the work. We all got the same blues and grays for practice, and the same gray sweats when winter came. Everyone made fun of everyone else, with a few exceptions. We had many State Champions who weren't recruited, with quite a few of them becoming All-American. It's sad to see that budgetary and legal constraints make that same situation impossible today. I would bet that there are far fewer walk-ons in Div I schools today. And I'll bet they are not treated nearly as well as we were back then. Regardless, it is one of the best experiences you could ever have, so good luck.

http://psutafalumnigolf.blogspot.com/2008/08/walking-on.html