By Malcolm Pace

Each fall, hundreds of thousands of fans around the country fill 100,000-seat stadiums to watch the spectacle that is college football. We watch gladiators go to war in modern-day coliseums, yet these 21st-century gladiators are 18-year-old college students, playing the signature American sport of football. At the elite level, these programs are worth millions of dollars and are comprised of the most elite athletes that the country has to offer. 

What draws the top talent to the elite programs in college football are the scholarships, recently introduced NIL deals, and the prospect of possibly playing in the NFL. Yet scholarship and NIL money are limited. So how do these programs field teams with rosters of up to 130 players? Walk-ons. These walk-ons are students who likely are paying tuition, oftentimes local or in-state players who are there not for the money or the fame, and in most cases playing time, but out of their love for their school and sport. 

Waters (#12) playing in high school in Newnan, Georgia.

My first cousin Woody Waters IV graduated from Newnan High School in Newnan, Georgia in 2019, a small-town school about 100 miles west of Athens, home of the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Waters was a standout wide receiver for the Newnan Cougars, earning all-region honors in both his junior and senior years. While Waters did not attend any recruiting camps or reach out to many college coaches, he still received offers from a few Division III schools, including an offer to play both football and baseball at Barry College in Rome, Georgia. Yet, Waters was dead set on attending the University of Georgia, as he had grown up a die-hard fan his entire life. He first attended the University of North Georgia, located in Athens, and transferred to Georgia in January 2021. Upon his entry into the school, he also signed up for a walk-on tryout for the football team.

As a high school student, Waters had gone on a visit to Georgia with the Walk-On Coordinator, who informed him that they could not provide any help with getting into the school, so his dream of playing football for the Dawgs would have to wait. When Waters arrived for his tryout, along with 50 other hopeful walk-ons, in January 2021, he was surprised by the nature of the tryout. Waters remembers that “the tryout had nothing to do with football; we ran a 40 [yard dash], a 5-10-5, and a 3-cone drill.” By the end of this process, an arbitrary eight of the 50 potential players were invited back to the team, including Waters, and his college football career began.

In January, a college football team is at the very beginning of their season, as the previous season likely ended with a bowl game in late December or early January. In Georgia’s case, that had been a win over Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day 2021. During this time, the team is conducting their 10 weeks of winter workouts, which consist of players beginning their meal plans, created for them by the team’s nutritionists, and lifting and conditioning much more than they would during the season. Waters explained that these winter workouts are “the season within the season,” as this time sets the foundation for the coming calendar year, and he joined the team right at the beginning of the 10 weeks. When asked about his first impression of the team during these winter workouts, Waters recounted, “I remember being like, Holy crap, these guys are huge.” As a less physically gifted newcomer, Waters was mentally up to the challenge and ready to compete yet worried about his ability to compete physically with his teammates, remembering that he “was worried about looking weak and inexperienced in the weight room.”

In the Georgia locker room.

By the time March arrives, the team begins their spring practice period, which leads up to the spring game in April, known as G-Day at Georgia. For many walk-ons, this is a precarious time; although they made the team in January at the tryout, they could endure the entire stretch of winter workouts, spring practice, and summer practice, and still get cut come August. Waters credits his spring practice success as the reason that he earned a roster spot in the fall. 

In the spring of 2021, there were many injuries in the Georgia wide receivers’ room, so Waters was fortunate enough to be a third-string on the depth chart in 2021, which gave him many opportunities in the spring to get reps, or playing opportunities. Waters shared that, as a walk-on, this exposure to the coaches “was probably the thing that helped me most, because I just got to play, while other guys who were in the same boat that played different positions were not getting the reps.” 

As Coach Kirby Smart has elevated the Georgia program to elite status in recent years, his intense coaching and preparation of his players have been a trademark of the Dawgs’ success. This begins in practice, as Smart pushes his players to their limits, making the intensity of his practices as high as possible. In season, the daily schedule includes lifts for the first and second strings at 7:00 a.m. and practice from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. To be a top-tier college football program, fast-paced, purposeful practice is key. Waters had never seen anything like it in his football career. He described the intensity: “it’s 100 miles a minute, anywhere from 15-25 NFL scouts/general managers at every practice every day, Kirby is yelling at everybody on the mic every day, nobody is walking anywhere, there is not a wasted second the entire time we’re out there.” 

The first day can be a rude awakening for many walk-ons and newcomers, so on the first day, Waters’ wide receivers coach instructed them that no matter what, do not be caught standing still or walking; just run somewhere. Waters says that he followed this advice and “found 84, Ladd [McConkey], and I ran wherever he ran, because I knew he knew where he was going.” 

Another characteristic of the program that has led to the Bulldogs’ success in the last few years is the sheer talent that is present on their roster. Waters explained that if an incoming freshman who is a 5-star recruit doesn’t make the first or second string, he is on the scout team, and the scout team plays against the ones and twos every day. This competition, Waters explained, is “how the turnover happens, that’s how guys get better. You’re playing against the best players in the country every single day at practice, you’re going to get better.” Waters remarked that during his time on the team, some headlining names on the 2023 team were on the scout team in 2021, such as Smael Mondon, Jr., Warren Brinson, and Javon Bullard. 

Waters also recognized the efficiency and high level of intent of the coaching staff as a distinguishing characteristic between Georgia and other programs. Specifically, Waters remembers former Georgia Defensive Coordinator and current Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning finding time in practice to develop the skills of the team’s best players. For example, during special teams periods in practice, Lanning would call over Waters and other scout team receivers to run one-on-one routes against the star linebackers and safeties, such as Nakobe Dean and Lewis Cine. Waters said, “I feel like that’s a time where I think a lot of other teams’ best guys are standing on the sidelines, whereas we’ve got our best players getting extra reps in these periods they aren’t supposed to be in, they’re off to the side doing extra.”

However, practice was not the only thing that got Georgia over the hump in 2021 to win their first national championship in 40 years. As soon as the 2020 season ended, Smart brought in a sports psychiatry consultant to analyze the organization about what they could improve on. The overarching problem within the organization was the sense of separation between certain players. Waters explains that Smart and his staff “made a conscious effort to galvanize the entire team,” to remove any separation in the locker room. 

The main adjustment Smart made was the introduction of a new program called Skull Sessions. These sessions were led by a 10-man leadership council, in which each of the 10 players had their own group of 10-12 other players that they met with once a week. Waters’ group was led by safety Chris Smith and, among others, included Stetson Bennett IV. Waters remembers this being ironic, as Bennett began the year as the backup quarterback, but by the end was a top leader on the team as starting QB. 

During these meetings, the players shared their backgrounds, motivations, who their families are, and why they were there. Waters explained, “the point of all this was for everyone to get to know each other on a personal level, so that when we were in the trenches, in the thick of a workout, in the thick of a team run, in the thick of summer conditioning, in the thick of a game, you could call on someone and say, ‘We need more out of you.’” 

This new team dynamic, paired with the elite-level talent that the Georgia football program attracted, led to the team being seeded third in the four-team College Football Playoff in 2021. The Dawgs traveled to Miami to play the Michigan Wolverines in the Capital One Orange Bowl. The game took place on December 31, 2021, but the team arrived in Miami five days prior. 

The CFP experience was unlike any other for the walk-ons. In Water’s case, like the majority of walk-ons, he only got to dress for one or two games all year and watch from the stands for the remaining 10, if he chose to make the journey to the away games. There are roster size restrictions for conference play and traveling that limit the roster to around 80 players, but those are lifted for the postseason, so the extra 50 or so walk-ons can join the travel squad on the sidelines for the semi-finals and championship games. While Waters was able to dress for two non-conference home games earlier in the year, he enjoyed his experience in the postseason more, as he suffered a knee injury in the weeks leading up to the semi-finals, so he was not able to fully dress out for the final two games, only wearing sweats and his jersey. Waters acknowledged the incredible experience that was putting on the uniform and running out of the tunnel into Sanford Stadium but shared that it was far more comfortable to be in sweats for these final two games, as standing on the sidelines for over four hours in full uniform was candidly uncomfortable, and not having his pads and helmet took nothing away from his sideline experience. 

Along with the thrill of being in Miami and playing in the Orange Bowl for a spot in the national championship game, bowl games provide an unforgettable experience for the players. Not only do the school and Nike team up to provide clothes for the players for each day of their trip, but the bowl game sponsors offer bowl gifts to the players, ranging from Beats headphones, to massage therapy guns, to TVs, to sets of pots and pans. The bowl game experience is made to be unforgettable not only by the tradition and aura of winning a national championship but also by the sponsors that craft a luxurious experience in amazing places for the players. The players are even provided stipends for their trip, so the walk-ons were essentially “paid to go party in Miami for a week.” Waters remarked, “it was something you would never be able to do unless you were a part of something like that.” 

However, once the Dawgs took care of business in Miami, dismantling the Wolverines 34-11, the following week took on a whole new vibe. The 2021 National Championship game was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was an entirely different experience from the bowl game semifinal. While there was still hospitality provided for the players by the schools and sponsors, there were no extravagant outings or gifts. Waters says it “was very much more like, this is the championship. Y’all are here to win a championship; we don’t have a bunch of stuff scheduled for y’all.”

In fact, the Dawgs were there to win a championship. Thanks to finding the right quarterback in Bennett, the perennially stifling defense, and the new team dynamic created by Smart and his Skull Sessions, the Dawgs finally ended their 41-year national championship drought. The entire team was motivated and ready to finally conquer the college football landscape and the Alabama Crimson Tide. As a walk-on who could dress and be on the sideline but still isn’t necessarily involved in the game, Waters says the feeling itself of accomplishment and victory, obviously magnified for the national championship, was not much different than the feeling of games that he had played in and contributed heavily to. Waters credits this feeling to the full calendar year of hard work that he and his teammates put in to achieve this feat. Waters remembers the funny feeling of knowing that they had won the game after Kelee Ringo’s pick-six but still having about 15 minutes of real-time until the game clock hit zero, and the insanity that ensued after: “I ran out onto the field, I almost ran over Nick Saban. That was crazy, I was literally a foot away from trucking him. I didn’t see him, and I realized I just ran past him.” 

However, in the moments before the clock hit zero, wide receiver Jermaine Burton shared a sentiment that perfectly encapsulates the value of walk-ons at the elite level of college football. Waters was explaining to Burton how the offense won the game for the team, but Waters remembers Burton countering, “No, we won this game all year with y’all scout team guys giving us the business every single day.” To hear this from a star wide receiver, who may not have close relationships with the walk-on guys, and had no need to say that, surprised Waters, but it proved a point for him. Along with Smart’s revival of the program, the real heartbeat of the program that proved to be the difference on the biggest stage was the walk-ons that fill out the roster. Waters concluded that all the walk-ons who “wanted nothing more than to play for Georgia” knew that their “role was important, and all of us took pride in it, and that’s part of the reason why Georgia is what it is.”

All photos courtesy of Woody Waters.