Nick Saban Opens Up About Possibility of Walk-Ons Being Eliminated

The massive changes to the college football landscape have brought on considerations to reduce roster sizes.

November 8, 2008; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Rashad Johnson (49) carries the ball into the endzone after intercepting the ball from the LSU Tigers during the first half at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports / Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

The college football landscape has gone under a plethora of changes over the past few years, including the transfer portal, the emergence of NIL and the 12-team College Football Playoff format, among other alterations.

However, throughout the summer, there have been considerations of a compensation model that would reduce football rosters from 115 players to 85-95. In other words, this would heavily diminish the number of walk-ons per team.

While it's rare that walk-ons see even a few in-game snaps per season, for decades they've proven to be pivotal to a team's success whether or not they play on Saturdays. On Friday, former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban spoke on The Pat McAfee Show about this arising dilemma in the sport.

"It really is a concern to me because some of the things moving forward that have been presented is that all players will be on scholarship and there'll be no opportunities for walk-ons," Saban said. "I think that's not good. It's all a participation number thing that people are trying to control, but there's been so many guys that have been walk-ons who got scholarships. Rashad Johnson played [eight] years in the league and was a walk-on at Alabama for us."

Johnson played at Alabama from 2006-08, the latter two were Saban's first years coaching the Crimson Tide. In 2007 and 2008, he combined for 117 tackles, including 10.5 for loss and 11 interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns.

2017 Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, future NFL Hall-of-Famer J.J. Watt, six-time Pro Bowler Clay Matthews and even Alabama championship crushers Stetson Bennett and Hunter Renfrow and countless other walk-ons made a tremendous impact at their respective schools. These players' careers likely wouldn't have happened without the use of the walk-on system and it unfortunately may not be around much longer.

As previously stated, most walk-ons never see the field on Saturday, but Saban believes they're still crucial to making teams thrive.

"To not be able to offer those opportunities to guys I think is very unfortunate. I hate it because those are the kind of guys you want on your team. They're motivated the right way, they're working hard every day, they're trying to prove something and not to be able to give them the opportunity to do that is something I don't think is good for college sports."

Since retiring on Jan. 10, Saban has made quite a name for himself in the media world, as his current gig is being an analyst on ESPN's College GameDay. He'll be discussing the Alabama Crimson Tide among many other Week 1 and late-season matchups on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. CT.