HuskyHawk
The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
- Messages
- 32,164
- Reaction Score
- 82,911
You give a walk-on a scholarship under one circumstance: it's August or September and you failed to meet the 13-player quota in the last recruiting cycle. So instead of letting it go to waste, you reward a kid who's worked his tail off both in practice and the classroom. It's a morale boost for the the team, the player, and his family - granted, UConn's in-state rate isn't awful and Lenehan and Amilo were probably on pretty hefty academic scholarship before then, but still.
That being said, the goal should always be to hit the full roster. You should never bank scholarships for walk-ons. It's not like football where work in the weight room and on the practice field can turn you into a contributor. Also, even though plenty of people have accused Ollie of banking scholarships, he's never done so before. Lenehan and Amilo both got theirs in late August when no more new players were coming in.
You don't bank scholarships for walk-ons, but you might bank a scholarship if there is nobody you can recruit who is really able to help your team. You don't do it for the walk-on, you do it so you can land an impact player the following year, rather than a 2 star kid this year.