Former San Jose State University football player discusses what it's like to not be highly recru
Every high school football player dreams of being recruited by the big named colleges such as Alabama, Clemson, LSU, and USC to just name a few. College scouts fly from across the country to watch thousands of high school football players play each year. For these high school football players all the training and preparation they do during the course of the week goes on full display once the bright lights come on. Securing an athletic scholarship is the impetus for all players. When a player doesn't secure that full ride athletic scholarship and resort to becoming a walk on player it has them questioning whether or not they should continue playing sports? Mark Williams tells his story of what it was like to be a walk on player for San Jose State.
A walk on player is a player who tries out for the team. In the event the player makes the team there is a chance they can earn a full or partial scholarship. Michelle Kretzschmar who is a journalist wrote an article where she outlines in more detail on the definition of a what a walk on player is in college sports. According to the NCAA approximately 46% of division I athletes are walk-ons. This stat is highly impressive almost 1 out of every 2 college athletes are walk-ons.
Williams walked on to San Jose State University's football team during the 2005 season. He was not highly recruited coming out of the Pasadena, CA area. Williams played linebacker for the Spartans from 2005-2008 before deciding to put more emphasis on his degree requirements. As an athlete in general whether amateur or professional there will a combination of both high and low moments. Williams in a recent interview discussed his journey as a walk on player "being a walk on player you have very very frustrating weeks where you're getting beat on you're never getting a rep you're traveling to games and you're not getting in those are the frustrating times," Williams said.
In conclusion, Williams graduated with his degree and works for Zillow as a technical recruiter. He enjoyed his time playing football and college. His advice to current walk on college football players is continue working hard on the practice field and the classroom.
