Think about Jordy Nelson and Ben Sinnott for a second. What do those two players have in common other than playing at Kansas State?
They were both football walk-ons.
Jordy Nelson played three seasons at Kansas State, starting his career as a walk-on for legendary coach Bill Snyder. Nelson went on to be a second-round draft pick, a Super Bowl Champion, an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler, and an NFL Comeback Player of the Year selection.
Ben Sinnott played four seasons at Kansas State, also starting as a walk-on, but he played for Chris Klieman, the successor of Bill Snyder. Sinnott won a lot of Big 12 honors and then was also drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft and has been called one of the biggest steals in the draft.
Will Sinnott have a career like Nelson did, who knows, but the biggest thing that ties these two players together is the fact that they were walk-ons for Kansas State.
So what does the fact of them being walk-ons have to do with anything?
Well, with the House vs. NCAA settlement and its pending approval, walk-ons could become a thing of the past. Now in the NCAA, there is a scholarship cap, which means only a certain number of scholarships can be given and anyone who does not have one of those scholarships is considered a walk-on.
Now walk-ons historically do not play a lot, but there have been cases where they have become household names for a school, like Nelson and Sinnott for Kansas State.
With the settlement and schools now having to pay athletes, schools might do away with walk-ons in order to not have to pay more athletes than they can.
This could be problematic for Kansas State as they have benefitted so much from having walk-ons. Nelson and Sinnott are just the start, there are others like B.J. Finney, Phillip Brooks, and so many more that were game-changers for Kansas State.
Kansas State will probably want to try everything it can to keep the walk-on program around because of how much they have benefitted from it. Just think of the talent that could have been missed in the past and that could be missed in the future if teams don't allow walk-ons anymore.