Nebraska Football: Program doing the right thing by embracing walk-ons

Nebraska Football has shown to be a big champion of the walk-on program.

Nebraska football has a pipeline that not many other programs do. Pretty soon, and by soon I mean in the next couple of years, they can use it to their advantage. In terms of commitments alone, the Nebraska football walk-on program has been extremely successful. Now, they have to begin to work on reaping the fruits of their labor.

In his appearance on Huskers Sports Nightly last Thursday, ($) Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost says he believes that the walk-on program will pay dividends. He believes that there are tremendously talented players that fall under the walk-on category. As a reference point, Trent Hixon, Brody Belt, Wyatt Mazour, and Kade Warner are all walk-on’s. They all have the potential to pay some sort of dividend to their respective positions in the fall. Warner in particular could help a young receiving unit looking for production.

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Immediate production though is rare, and Frost believes it could take a couple years in order to fully recognize what each player could do. If his recruiting prowess is any indication, Frost should be able to find some gems in the walk-on a group he has assembled. He said as much in his radio appearance.

"“I think it’s going to be in the next year or two that you really start to see the benefits of that walk-on program,” Frost said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that are talented enough to help us. It takes a while for those guys to develop just like any other freshman.”"

I certainly am excited by the fact that he has high hopes for this walk-on program. Too often in other programs, guys make a minimal impact but we don’t really hear too much about them. They are just happy to be on the roster. Unfortunately, many of them really don’t have any bearing when it comes time for the game on Saturday. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Nebraska Football. If anything, the walk-on program should be very involved and the players that are part of it could have a chance to see some real playing time over the next couple of seasons.

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Nebraska should definitely stick with the walk-on program as it allows players who may not necessarily grab much of the spotlight to have a chance. There are obviously going to be some duds in some cases. That’s why they are walk-on’s. However, if the Nebraska football coaching staff can make the most of the talent that they have, this could be a huge source of talent for the program. Frost obviously believes in the program, and it will be exciting to see what he can do with it.

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