Playing the game for free

Making the cut on a Division I football team isn’t an easy thing to do even with a scholarship. Making the cut without one is even harder, but there are a few every year that battle the odds to put on a college uniform.

A Division I team only has so many scholarships to offer, so every year some spots have to be filled by walk-ons. Idaho coach Robb Akey said walk-ons are a vital part of the Vandal football program.

“They’re very important to our success,” Akey said. “We only have 85 scholarships to give, so we have to have them and we’re lucky to have had a good group of walk-ons in the past few years.”

The process of walking on usually begins with an invite. Coaches choose and invite high school stars who didn’t receive a scholarship. Idaho players Tom Hennessey and Justin Parkins experienced the process first-hand.

Hennessey is a 5-foot-11-inch sophomore safety from Mountain Home, Idaho, where he earned all-state honors. During his redshirt season at Idaho he was named the team’s defensive Scout Team Player of the Year. Hennessey said he didn’t hesitate to accept the walk-on invitation because being a Vandal is a family tradition.

“I grew up an Idaho Vandals fan,” Hennessey said. “My dad played up here and I made a decision out of high school that I wanted to play football.”

Parkins, a redshirt freshman running back, rushed for more than 1,200 yards during his senior year at Moscow High School.

Akey said Hennessey and Parkins have been impressive in their time so far and both have a bright future.

“Those two guys are some good ones,” Akey said. “They come out and work hard and help the team get better. They’re going to have a great future here.”

The life of a walk-on is no different from that of a scholarship player, except they don’t receive any money. They go to early morning meetings, practices and workouts, plus work extra hard to impress coaches.

“It’s hard,” Hennessey said. “It’s an uphill battle just to make the cut in the spring and it’s even more of an uphill battle to get playing time.”

Parkins said it can be hard to do all the same things scholarship athletes do without the same benefits.

“You think about it at first, but it comes down to you’re just playing football out here,” he said. “Eventually if you keep doing what you’re doing you could get paid. Some kids never get paid. It happens but as long as you’re playing ball, that’s what everyone came here to do.”

Hennessey’s work paid off last year when he got on the field against North Dakota. He said the moment justified all the time and sweat he put in.

“When I got on the field against North Dakota, it was what I’ve been working for,” Hennessey said. “It was a special moment.”

Not all walk-ons experience that moment and Akey said it takes a mentally tough person with a passion to play the game.

“They have to love football,” Akey said. “They have to love doing this because they’re going to be doing it all day and all night. They have to have that drive.”

In the end, Parkins and Hennessey agreed — it all comes down to work ethic. The two aren’t paid, but doing what they love and pulling on the Vandal jersey makes it all worth it in the end.

“Some days are tougher than others,” Hennessey said. “There are some days I don’t want to be here, but there’s only a couple thousand people in the country who get to do this.”

Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]

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