Whose the best CFB "walk on" you can think of?

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In 1994, the NCAA reduced the number of football scholarships for Division 1 schools from 105 to 85. This
ruling increased the vitality of walk-ons at major college programs, not only for practice purposes, but some
on game day as well. Who are some of the better known walk-ons you like.

JJ Watts comes to mind. He was a walk-on at Nebraska who went on to earn a scholarship and made All Big
Ten and All-American his senior year.

Who are some others................................?
 

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Baker Mayfield at the top for me

Andy Pappanastos is not :)
 

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Baker Mayfield at the top for me

Andy Pappanastos is not :)

I didn't even think of Mayfield. He's about as high profile as one can get.
 

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Another good quarterback story is Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden.

He went from walk-on to a first round draft choice in the NFL.
 

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From UF, I can throw in Louis Oliver. He was a 6'2 180lb DB, finished as a 6'2 224lb Safety, 2-time AP 1st Team All-American, and a 1st round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins in 1989. Played 8 years in the NFL and made one pro-bowl. He's now a multi-millionaire real estate investor/agent in the Miami area. He was a BIG, BIG hitter. 224lb Safeties in the 80's was almost unheard of.

Also from UF is WR Chris Doering. He left UF w/ 31 career TD catches, which was best ever in the SEC. Drafted in the 6th round and played parts of 9 NFL seasons. Is now on the SEC Network.

Another from UF is QB Kerwin Bell. The "Throwin Mayoan" (he was from Mayo, Florida). He was SEC Player of the Year in 1984, 1st Team All-SEC. He was a 7th round draft pick (when the NFL had 12 round drafts) and played parts of 14 seasons in the NFL and CFL. He's now the head coach at Valdosta State.
 

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mentioning Doering made me remember Hunter Renfro (or is it Renfrow?), the slot WR on Clemson that tore Bama up 2 years ago in the title game. Clearly not at the Doering level but pretty impressive to start that early as a WO at Clemson

didn't know Bell was a WO. Real decent player

I would remiss if I didn't mention Bama's Levi Wallace. To WO at Bama and become a starting CB for a national title team is incredible, led the defensive backs in INT's and passes defensed. Has an outside shot at making a NFL team this year but the kid had ZERO scholarship offers out of high school and WO at Bama. Incredible story that didn't get a whole lot of play this year
 

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Another Alabama player is Rashad Johnson. He walked on as a safety and was a two time
All-SEC selection plus All-American his senior year.

Dabo Swinney (Clemson HS) walked on at Alabama in 1988 and earned a scholarship. He
wasn't a great player but has turned out to be a damn good coach. He lettered three years
with the Tide later becoming a graduate assistant and then a fulltime coach from 1996-2000
at Alabama.
 

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Santana Moss walked-on at Miami and became a really good player catching 143 passes and 19
touchdowns for the Canes. He was named All-Conference and All-American..
 

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Kevin Greene has to be mentioned in this discussion. He walked on as a fullback but didn't make the team. Later walked on as a linebacker. His college career was decent - lead the conference in sacks his senior year, but it was in the NFL where he really shined - 15 seasons, 3 pro bowls and member of the 90's all decade team. Voted into the NFL Hall of Fame a few years back.

Another walk-on near and dear to the AU faithful is Bill Newton. Auburn fans will never never forget his two block punts in the '72 punt bama punt game.
 

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mentioning Doering made me remember Hunter Renfro (or is it Renfrow?), the slot WR on Clemson that tore Bama up 2 years ago in the title game. Clearly not at the Doering level but pretty impressive to start that early as a WO at Clemson

didn't know Bell was a WO. Real decent player

I would remiss if I didn't mention Bama's Levi Wallace. To WO at Bama and become a starting CB for a national title team is incredible, led the defensive backs in INT's and passes defensed. Has an outside shot at making a NFL team this year but the kid had ZERO scholarship offers out of high school and WO at Bama. Incredible story that didn't get a whole lot of play this year

Renfrow was the Clemson player....Renfroe is the baseball player. Both good players!

Didn't Alabama have a walk-on DB on this year's team? From Arizona maybe?

Nebraska used to have a great walk-on program. I saw a story where Frost is trying to revive it. He landed 19 or so preferred walk-on's that were announced on signing day.

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211690576
 

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see post 6 ... Levi Wallace

The SEC version of Game Day (whatever it's called) did a nice story on him this year. It figures too, Alabama has 4 and 5-star talent up and down the roster and they land this stud as a walk-on!!
 

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