SEC coaches unanimously protest to protect walk-on programs, but is roster cap boogeyman a formality?

SANDESTIN, Fla. — Texas A&M’s 12th Man is the stuff of legend and lore, and the Aggies’ rich history of walk-on traditions could be in danger following the seismic House v. NCAA settlement which is set to reshape college athletics as we know it. 

The case called for an end to scholarship limits, and would instead place a hard roster cap on teams depending on the sport (i.e., 85 scholarships for football or 13 for men’s basketball). SEC teams have become accustomed to operating with more than 110-120 players, and as Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said Tuesday, it sure seems backward that the sport is considering shrinking the number of available players when college football is set to play a record number of games in 2024.

On Monday, Commissioner Greg Sankey intimated that the league’s football coaches were already griping behind the scenes about the hot-button topic expected to dominate conversations throughout the week at the SEC Spring Meetings. 

Public frustration might’ve been a more appropriate explanation for some of the coaches’ reactions. 

“I’m strongly against it,” Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko said vigorously.

“I think it’s absolutely against college football, what it stands for and what it’s about. I think that would be a major problem, especially, when you look at the legacies of Texas A&M kids that are going to get the opportunity to play football at Texas A&M potentially taken away from them.

“I think that’s something’s really bad for the sport.”

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian expressed a similar sentiment, noting that the Longhorns have a ripe walk-on program with more than 35 players that includes his son. 

“We don’t have this enormous roster,” Sarkisian said. 

“What happens to all those walk-ons? What happens to all those stories? That’s what college football is all about.”

Why coaches are against a hard 85-man roster cap

College football coaches love to complain about everything under the sun, but their protests might be met with merit in this instance. They’re concerned about reps, player safety and the opportunity to develop valuable depth for special teams players — or more. 

New Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, who has managed rosters with all manner of numbers (from 100 to 135), was open about his concerns for player safety. Same for Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, who was specific that colleges don’t have the ability to simply sign a free agent off the street to fill a roster spot as they can in the NFL.

Sarkisian and Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze were weary of the practice implications for losing so many bodies to rotate reps and snaps.

“We’re only used to practicing a certain way. We’re not the NFL. We (have) physical practices,” Freeze said.

“Hopefully we can find a reasonable number to where we still feel like we can operate at a high level as coaches and for our players,” Sarkisian added.

The conversations regarding roster caps ran so long Tuesday that multiple coaches had to cancel appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show.

The hiccup is the roster cap boogyman isn’t definitely around the corner, though.

It might be, but it’s not a certainty.

The SEC’s coaches could be putting the cart before the horse regarding walk-ons suddenly being eliminated from the sport. The rumored 85-number might not be the hard cap end-all, either.

Change is coming. How stark simply remains to be seen.

Sankey cautioned that the cap was merely a “concept” and not yet a formality, and he pleaded with the SEC’s coaches to think about the “why” and that will lead them to the “what.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart made sure to mention as much when asked his thoughts on the subject Tuesday. 

“We’re here to figure that out,” he said. 

“There’s a lot of narratives out there that are loose. That may not be true. … I do feel strongly that roster spots are important. Where that falls is what we’re here for.”

Added Kiffin, “I don’t know that I have a great sense of where it’s going. Obviously, something is coming and we’ll adapt to whatever that is.” 

Smart offered no definitive opinion on the right number for any potential hard cap, but he essentially said axing walk-on programs would be akin to hating puppies or babies. 

“I don’t know anybody that would be against having walk-ons,” Smart said, mentioning success stories from coaches like Dabo Swinney and Will Muschamp to former Bulldogs wideout Ladd McConkey, who just was a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. 

“They overcame the ultimate odds. At what cost does that bring us? I think it hurts high school football, and football as a whole, when kids can’t even dream about the opportunity (to walk on).”

For now, the conversations regarding what a future roster cap could look like are just getting started. No resolution is expected before the 2024 season, and even though there’s a consensus among SEC head coaches to preserve their walk-on programs, a potential doomsday outcome isn’t definitely in the cards. 

“What I’ve heard is that everything that I’ve heard is not to be trusted,”  said Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea, a former walk-on fullback with the Commodores. 

“I think that all that stuff is to be determined, and I want to know a little more about all of it.”