Dave Doeren considers potential elimination of walk-on spots 'a travesty'

Matt McCabe earned a scholarship with NC State nearly one year ago. The Pack revealed the good news during a team meeting, leading to an eruption of celebration for the former walk-on offensive lineman. 

The pride in head coach Dave Doeren’s voice was clear when he awarded the redshirt junior a coveted scholarship. McCabe played 152 snaps last fall, primarily on special teams, but he also lined up at left and right guard for 19 plays. 

He went through the last year with his tuition paid for after working his way into NC State’s two-deep. Now, the offensive lineman sits in the middle of the Pack’s competition for left guard. McCabe took the Pack’s first string snaps at that spot during the initial drills of Wednesday’s first fall camp practice. 

Doeren mentioned the battle for the left guard role is one of the position battles he is excited to see unfold over the next few weeks. The former walk-on will play a significant role in that. 

“I’m really proud of Matt,” Doeren said after Wednesday’s practice. “Matt has worked really hard. He does everything we ask him to do. He plays really hard, he trains really hard, he handles himself well in the community, in the classroom and it’s a great story.” 

McCabe is the latest walk-on to earn a scholarship from the Pack. NC State gives everyone on the roster a chance to earn playing time. Wide receiver Thayer Thomas and punter Trenton Gill, who are both in the NFL now, and former cornerback Isaac Duffy are all notable examples of contributors who emerged through the walk-on program.. 

The 6-6, 302-pound upperclassmen arrived in Raleigh as a defensive lineman out of Cary (N.C.) Panther Creek High. He put on nearly 40 pounds during the first years of his collegiate career after starting out at 262 in 2020. Doeren took notice of his hard work and rewarded him with his scholarship. 

“One of the best things you get to do as a head coach is give a guy a scholarship that’s earned one,” Doeren said to the team after delivering the news last year.

During that same address to the team, the head coach emphasized to the walk-ons in the meeting room that there is a path to free college at NC State. He claimed that more than 30 players have earned scholarships during his tenure. 

A recent rule change by the NCAA might take those opportunities away. Scholarship limits are no more. Instead, the NCAA will impose a hard cap of 105 athletes for the 2025 season. NC State lists 123 total players— almost 40 walk-ons— on its fall camp roster. 

That puts new financial strain on the football program and places coaching staffs in a difficult position of moving current walk-ons into those roster spots or bringing in athletes who would have been scholarship players under the previous system. 

“To me, it’s a travesty that walk-ons may not be a part of college football,” Doeren said. “I don’t know if that’s finalized or where that’s all going. We’re still just getting used to the same thing you guys saw— that it’s 105. And what does that mean? And how is that funded? Everything. There’s a million questions.”

Per the New York Times, schools will also have the option to award partial scholarships in football now. Not much is known about how this rule change will be implemented at NC State or around the country, but he is concerned about how smaller rosters could impact player safety. 

“It will change how we practice,” Doeren said. “When the rosters get smaller, we’re going to have to change the reps.”

At the end of the day, the Wolfpack head coach does not want to see athletes lose their chance to suit up for their college. 

“I hate seeing any opportunity taken away from student athletes, and walk-ons willingly joined football teams,” Doeren said. “They’re not forced on the football teams.”