Cal Coach Justin Wilcox Frets Over Future of Walk-On Program

A proposed settlement of antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA includes expanding football rosters to 105 players, all of whom can be on scholarship

Justin Wilcox /

Even as Cal football opened its 2024 fall camp on Wednesday, coach Justin Wilcox took a few moments to address issues that will impact the Bears — and all of college athletics — by this time next year.

A proposed settlement of three antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA was released last week, painting a stark change in the college sports landscape.

If approved by a judge next March, the settlement calls for the NCAA to distribute $2.78 billion beginning next year to athletes who have played NCAA sports dating back to 2016.

NCAA schools also will be allowed to pay their current athletes in all sports a yearly total of $23.1 million, essentially making them full professionals.

And, in a move designed to prevent the richest schools from stockpiling talent, FBS football rosters will be limited to 105 players, all of whom would be eligible to be on scholarship. Currently, there is no roster limit in FBS but teams can only carry 85 scholarship players.

It’s the last of those three topics that most has Wilcox’s attention because he and others view it as a potential threat to walk-on programs. 

“I have concerns that guys that had gotten opportunities in the past are going to get maybe fewer opportunities,” he said Wilcox. “Guys could still walk on, but the number is going to shrink.”

The Bears currently have 119 players on their roster, 34 of which are walk-ons. “We’ve had great success with walk-ons here,” Wilcox said. “How’s that all going to sort out, we’ll see.”

Defensive back Ashtyn Davis and running back Patrick Laird are examples of recent Cal walk-ons who eventually became scholarship players before landing in the NFL.

Regarding the $23.1 million that all schools will be permitted to pay -- out of their own coffers -- Wilcox said he’s been assured by campus officials that “we’ll be able to support football at the highest level in order to compete where we want to compete.” 

He declined to comment on how the money might be distributed among Cal’s 28 sports teams, noting that athletic director Jim Knowlton and others  are wrestling with those issues.