Dabo Swinney has often said that he didn’t get a chance to join the Alabama football team as a walk-on wide receiver in 1990s, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
So Clemson’s two-time national champion football coach, understandably, had a strong reaction to the recent news that walk-on players will be functionally eliminated amid new roster changes stemming from a court settlement.
“It’s a really sad thing to me,” Swinney said Thursday during ACC Kickoff.
According to multiple reports, power conference commissioners (including ACC commissioner Jim Phillips) have agreed to transition from a “scholarship limit” to a “roster limit” system beginning in 2025-26 as part of a settlement in the House vs. NCAA court case, which is expected to be approved Friday, according to The Athletic. That deal will allow institutions to share almost $20 million in earnings with their student-athletes.
But the settlement also means one big change for college football rosters. Previously, teams such as Clemson were limited to giving out 85 full scholarships to players — but they could also have up to 120 total players on their roster, including walk-ons.
Under the new setup for 2025 and beyond, college football programs will no longer be limited to how many scholarships they can offer. They’ll be limited in total roster size — with each player on that roster (up to 105) receiving a full scholarship.
“That’s great for baseball, soccer and some of the sports where you take 11 scholarships and spread it out amongst 30-some guys,” Swinney said. “But for football, the unintended consequence is it basically eliminates your walk-ons. There’s no coach that wants that.”
Speaking from the Hilton Uptown Charlotte during the ACC’s annual football media days, Swinney gave a passionate, in-depth response on the value of walk-ons that lasted over six minutes and took up nearly half of his time at the podium.
“I don’t think there was an intention to say, ‘OK, you can have no more walk-ons,’” Swinney said. “I think the way it was settled: Whatever your roster size is, that’s your scholarship limit. So you couldn’t limit scholarships.”
“That’s where administrators get together and say, ‘We can’t have 130 guys on scholarship, so we’re going to have to reduce the roster.’ Whatever they reduce it to, everybody has to be on scholarship. That’s how we’ve gotten to the situation.”
For years, under Swinney, Clemson has had a strong walk-on presence on its roster. Sometimes, players like wide receiver Hunter Renfrow catch on, win a scholarship, and become stars. Others join special teams and contribute. Some never play in a game but, according to Swinney, make vital contributions to the depth and scout team during practice.
