Camden Dempsey was among those sitting slack-jawed in the Colorado team room 26 months ago. The little-used offensive lineman heard his new coach famously telling those Buffaloes to essentially vacate the premises.
“I’m bringing my [own] roster with me,” Deion Sanders said that day.
Dempsey, a walk-on who had blown out his ACL the previous year, didn’t need to be hit over the head with a goal post to get the message. He didn’t qualify as “Louie,” Sanders’ preferred reference to both portal-ready designer players … and luggage.
By that time, however, Dempsey was already a valuable member of the team — something more than a warm body. That’s why part of Dempsey’s purpose these days is to prove every program needs those warm walk-on bodies.
“When coach came in there wasn’t a sit-down interview process,” Dempsey recalled to CBS Sports recently. “It was an interview over the course of four months. Every day you’d show up to practice, every workout you were at. That was really my interview process.”
In that sense, Dempsey had a better chance at making the team than scholarship athletes because he showed up. Those walk-ons, those non-scholarship roster fillers who seldom get in a game are instrumental to the mission.
Not that Dempsey needs that scholarship. Both his parents are lawyers. His education is being paid for via a prestigious Boettcher academic scholarship, a four-year full ride. Dempsey has already started his own business as part of a class project.
The finance and marketing major is pursuing his master’s in real estate.
Also, in four seasons, he has appeared in one game. Hardly Louie.
It’s because of Dempsey’s selfless work ethic that Coach Prime never did cut him. The lawyers, however, are doing their darndest.
To get the House v. NCAA settlement across the finish line, cuts have had to be made. Drastic cuts, some would say, that includes limiting roster sizes. It is a legal and budgetary maneuver to allow schools to pay athletes out of that monster $20.5 million revenue sharing pot.
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In football that means a roster cap of 105 players. For the average program, that means cutting about 15 walk-ons. That could mean the loss of 2,000 walk-on opportunities across FBS, perhaps 10,000 across all sports.
Dempsey has protested with a grassroots strategy, somehow lining up 90 fellow Big 12 athletes from various sports to sign his letter to House Judge Claudia Wilken.
It’s not exactly storming the castle; it’s only a letter, not a formal objection. But Dempsey would love to speak to Wilken in person when she begins formally considering the settlement in April. So far, Dempsey has not received a reply.
“I want something that fits more the student-athlete voice,” Dempsey told CBS Sports. “The moment you get lawyers involved it becomes professional and there is a higher standard applied to everything. [The athletes] still want their voices to be heard and that shouldn’t be a limiting factor in their voices being heard.”
The potential loss of walk-ons has rocked the game. Neither coaches nor players had formal input in the decision. Roster caps were largely a legal maneuver to help the settlement reach the finish line.
“I’m miserable thinking about. We’ve had to tell a few [walk-ons] already,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said.
Klieman has already done the math. He says those 105 may not be enough to safely field a team.
“Twenty kids are hurt. Twenty kids enter the portal. Ten kids opt out. You may have 75 kids left, but you may have [only] three DBs or six O-linemen or one quarterback,” Klieman explained.
He has also seen the future. Klieman’s roster conclusions essentially describe what caused Marshall to opt out of the Independence Bowl last year.
“I’m not so sure we didn’t play in the last true group of bowl games. You’re going to see more Marshalls of the world now,” Klieman said.
The subject is that sensitive at the moment. Sure, NFL teams get by with rosters of only 53 (plus a practice squad), but those are paid professionals. College players’ bodies are still forming. The New York Times on Sunday highlighted athletes’ sometimes sketchy medical care. Walk-ons bodies are pounded on without the cushion of that scholarship.
Without them, “there are going to be teams that can be literally 9-3 and they’re going to wind up 3-9,” said former Eastern Illinois quarterback Jeff Christensen, a veteran throwing coach who counts Patrick Mahomes among his clients.
“This is a huge mistake to impact walk-ons like that.”
While the roster caps have been sold as increasing total head count size, the subject becomes complicated. There is a loss of opportunities as well for those walk-ons.
The institution of “equivalency” scholarships for all sports means coaches can parcel out those grants in aid. Example: Football programs might have 85 full scholarships, and the remaining spots could be filled with partial scholarships.
Those, in essence, could be the “walk-ons” — a 10% scholarship here, a half scholarship there. But definitely less of them. Dempsey himself was a “preferred” walk-on. Such designations mean a player is invited to join the team and has an enhanced chance to get a scholarship.
But that’s less of a point than overall opportunities being limited.
“Somebody is going sue over this dropping down to 105,” Klieman added. “We’ve still got to release another 20 [walk-ons]. Somebody is going to sue over that.”
Those lawsuits are certainly coming. Scores of athletes — and their families — have formally objected, which is allowed by the terms of the settlement. None of this was going to be easy with schools being able to pay players for their athletic ability for the first time.
And, yes, life is not fair, and for any school the House settlement is an option. But for those schools that don’t opt in, the decision will define their athletic brand. Possibly even the school’s.
The walk-on advocacy has a bit of the American Dream attached to it. For now, Dempsey merely wants to be heard.
“So many people have gotten up in the idea that college sports is just all about money, and it’s not,” he said. “There’s a reason that people show up at 5 and 6 a.m. [to go to] Big Noon kickoff.
“There’s a tradition, there’s history, and people love the athletes they see. With that comes of the tradition of the walk-ons.”
Non-scholarship players became a sub-class in 1956 when the NCAA instituted athletic grants-in-aids — those full-ride scholarships. The benefit created a class of athletes who got room, board, books, tuition and laundry money ($15 per month).
Such “compensation” was seen as an outrageous extra benefit by some at the time. But those scholarshipped elites still needed someone to practice against.
“They’re not just tackling dummies,” Marty Burlsworth said of walk-ons.
Burlsworth oversees the award named after his brother that goes to the nation’s best player who began his career as a walk-on. Brandon Burlsworth arrived at Arkansas as a walk-on so pudgy he had to lose 50 pounds. He left in 1998 as an All-American offensive lineman.
Brandon is memorialized after being killed in an auto accident in 1999 after being drafted in the third round by the Indianapolis Colts.
“In this country we’re all encouraged to dream and to work hard,” Marty Burlsworth said. “If we reduce or cut out the ability to walk on, we’re saying you can dream in this country, just can’t do it in college football … to show the world what is possible.”
Baker Mayfield is a former Burlsworth winner and the only former walk-on ever to win the Heisman Trophy. Who recalls he was the first true freshman walk-on to start a season opener at an FBS school (Texas Tech)?
Penn State’s Carl Nassib led the nation in sacks and won the Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman. JJ Watt was a walk-on defensive end at Wisconsin. Missouri’s Cody Schrader came from Division II to lead the SEC in rushing in 2023.
Stetson Bennett went from Georgia to junior college back to Georgia where he won two national championships.
How’s that for a non-scholarship excellence?
In saying his athletic department wouldn’t opt in to the House settlement, North Dakota State athletic director Matt Larsen recently said it would have meant the reduction of 65 athletes over all the Bison sports.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney began his Alabama career as a walk-on receiver. Last year’s roster included 136 players. That means if the House numbers hold, Swinney will have to tell 31 players their services are no longer needed.
“It’s the worst thing in my whole coaching career,” Swinney said last season.
Brandon Landry used his experience with LSU basketball to launch a string of sports bars. If you know anything about college football, you know about “Walk-Ons” headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Landry is the CEO.
Having grown up in the area watching Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Jackson and Stanley Roberts, Landry failed making the team in a tryout. Then, a few weeks in, new coach John Brady suddenly didn’t have enough players with which to practice.
“My best friend at the time was an equipment manager. He said, ‘Do you want to come?’ I said, ‘I’m in,’ Landry recalled. “I showed up for a 6 a.m. practice. I didn’t know what it was going to lead to.”
Four years later, Landry had a degree, an SEC championship ring and a run to the Sweet 16.
“And,” he reminded, “I got a name for a restaurant.”
It is fitting that Swinney is a partner in the Clemson Walk-Ons.
“Taking care of the entire team,” Landry said explaining his business/athletic philosophy. “Whether it’s the general manager or first-day dishwasher. It saddens me that some of these kids won’t get an opportunity because of the [House] restrictions.”
The entire game is shifting more toward an NFL model with less of everything in the offseason. Not only will bowls be impacted but also spring games themselves because of injury and roster concerns.
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“There will be more OTAs [organized team activities] rather than spring practices, and spring games are already starting to go away,” Brown told CBS Sports. “With fewer players and longer seasons, coaches will also hit less, scrimmage less and work more like the NFL where you work your 2s vs 1s more and less scout teams.”
From the beginning, limits on athletic scholarships have been about cost containment and competitive balance. The NCAA limited football scholarships to 105 in 1973. That in itself is ironic because that’s essentially where we are beginning July 1 with House. Those FBS scholarship limits were reduced to 95 in 1978 and to the current 85 in 1992.
Before 1973 it wasn’t surprising for power programs to have 150-200 players on a sideline.
The landscape shifted from scholarship limits to roster caps to avoid legal liability. That liability is theoretically lessened because scholarship opportunities are actually increased from the current 85 scholarship limit to up to 105.
Back to those grassroots. Dubbed “The Governor” by his coach, Dempsey is a lifelong Buff whose grandfather has had season tickets since 1967. In his letter to Wilken, he advocated for current walk-ons at least being grandfathered roster spots through the end of their current eligibility.
Dempsey also has a huge advocate. Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua recently told CBS Sports he prefers a “grace period” for roster limits to be instituted.
“So those student-athletes around the country that have put in their blood, sweat and tears to be members of programs, not just football,” Bevacqua said. “Have a graceful end to their careers.”
The move has also resulted a large pushback from the rank and file: the athletes themselves. There have been numerous objections filed by athletes against final approval of the settlement.
For now, Dempsey might be the leading wave of those athlete objectors. Walk-on status means he doesn’t get an athletic scholarship. That’s code for not being good enough to get an athletic scholarship.
That’s less of an issue than Dempsey’s protest of House being one of the most compelling.
“Instead of sitting down at the table and talking with athletes and listening to all the stakeholders involved, you’re seeing a decision this big being legislated through the courts,” Dempsey said.
If this is truly about cost containment and competitive balance, cutting walk-ons reeks of hypocrisy. Spending on facilities and coaches’ salaries continues unabated. Competitive balance? It can be argued the Power Four conferences have all but formally separated from the rest of FBS.
Dempsey is considered a team leader despite having to switch to long snapper because of that ACL injury. Last July, he was named co-chair of the Big 12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was just named one of 10 CU students to be honored as Graduating Leaders of the Year.
As NIL was debuting during his freshman year in 2021, Dempsey organized an autograph signing at a Denver sports bar that netted his teammates a combined $3,000. Not much, but it’s enough to realize what could be done. He is a community leader who has spoken to the Downtown Boulder Partnership.
A guy who hardly plays is considered a team leader and spokesman because of those accomplishments.
A guy who arrived in time to experience 1-11 in 2022 has watched more than 100 players leave the program since Sanders arrived.
A walk-on who has appeared in all of one game is not one of them.
“They brought me in for leadership,” Dempsey concluded.
It has shown.
“Why can’t we come together as a conference or as athletes and say, ‘Look, how about we decide this on our own?’ he said.
