Eli Drinkwitz explains why walk-ons are necessary in college football

Massive changes are coming to college football and college sports at large, but Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz is one of many to take a stand against lowering the roster limit for football teams.

Money will be coming and going in mass amounts for some parties once all these changes shake out, and as part of such a budget shakeup, schools are considering responsive changes, such as lowering the scholarship number or overall roster cap on football teams, which could mean eliminating many walk-on players.

Drinkwitz certainly isn’t in favor of that possibility and pleaded that walk-ons are a vital part of the game right now.

“Well, first and foremost, it’s player safety,” he said at a recent press conference, “and it’s about being able to maintain the health and safety of your players throughout a season.”

Drinkwitz had previously noted a statement by Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, that having less players available is a burdensome tax on these teams.

“I think (Texas A&M coach Mike) Elko said it best, they’re asking us to take a 35% reduction of our roster to try to make the best sport the best sport, and they’re asking us to play the most games we’ve ever played,” Drinkwitz shared. “That’s a real challenge and I think there’s got to be some common sense to this.”

The Missouri head coach points to the NFL as an example of what college football teams don’t and wouldn’t have with roster limits, and that’s a pool of backups guaranteed no matter what.

“You know, the comparables to the NFL really have no bearing on college football,” Drinkwitz said. “Because the way an NFL team is constructed, they have 70 healthy players at any one time, because of the waiver wire, because of a practice squad. They’re always able to practice at this same place.”

Coach Drinkwitz continued, noting that college teams don’t have nearly that flexibility.

“With what they’re trying to impose upon us with roster limits, you would be set with a number of players and there is no ability to add or subtract from that team for your entire season,” Drinkwitz said. “And I just I don’t think that’s a practical way to go about it.”

Keep the walk-ons, says Eli Drinkwitz, because college football desperately needs them. Not only that, but he also knows it’s important for teams to have the option to add as many as they like to their roster, just in case they may need to.