Jack Endries: Exhibit A For Why Cal Will Keep Walk-On Program

With roster limits expected to go into effect next fall, some programs may choose not to use spots for non-scholarship players

Cal tight end Jack Endries / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

College football is expected to finalize a rules change for next fall that creates a first-ever roster limit of 105 players but allows schools to give each of them scholarship money.

The long-time existing guidelines have permitted unlimited roster size but only 85 players on scholarship. 

Some worry the result could be the death of the football walk-on because schools with the money to do so will simply stock their roster with 105 scholarship athletes.

“We’re going to keep walk-ons,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. “We purposefully wanted to do that. I know that some teams won’t. We think it’s important and we’re going to utilize the walk-ons. 

“It’s really good, obviously, for opportunities for them. But then it’s good for your team culture. Guys come in and earn it. I think the locker room benefits from that.”

Beyond that, Cal has developed walk-ons into productive players who eventually earn scholarships. “The walk-on program here has been fantastic,” Wilcox said. “Heck, there’s guys playing in the NFL who started as walk-ons.”

A leading recent example is Ashtyn Davis, who came to Cal as a non-scholarship football/track athlete. Davis became so good as a safety that he was put on scholarship, earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors and was a third-round draft pick by the New York Jets in 2020. 

Now with the Miami Dolphins, Davis is set to begin his sixth NFL season next fall.

Tight end Jack Endries came to Cal as a walk-on from Monte Vista High School in the East Bay community of Danville. He redshirted his first season, but has emerged as an important contributor.

Over the past two seasons, the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder has caught 91 passes for 1,030 yards and four touchdowns. Last fall he became the first tight end to lead the Bears in pass receptions since David Lewis in 1982, earning honorable mention All-ACC honors.

Now a redshirt junior and on scholarship, Endries recently was rated by Pro Football Focus as the nation’s second-best returning tight end.

Asked if he can imagine a scenario where the Bears didn’t bring in Endries as a preferred walk-on, Wilcox said, “Gosh, I hate to even think about that. It’s just part of the reason we’re going to continue to carry walk-ons.”

Endries, who needs 24 catches to move ahead of Lewis (114) for the most career receptions by a Cal tight end, notes that he and wide receiver Trond Grizzell both went from walk-on to starter. And he wonders if either would be at Cal had they not been recruited as non-scholarship prospects.

“Who knows what my football path would have been,” he said, noting he probably would have chosen one of the scholarship offers that came his way from Mountain West Conference schools.

Endries is pleased the Bears will continue recruiting walk-ons. 

“A bunch of guys in the locker room, they might not be playing, but they’re culture guys and a bunch of freshmen who I could see developing into someone that’s really good,” he said.

He laments what could be lost with programs that won’t continue bringing in walk-ons.

“A lot of good players are going to be left on the border,” he said.

Tight ends coach Mike Saffell, a former offensive lineman for the Bears, is expecting big things this season from Endries, And not merely as a pass catcher.

“He’s a physical player and that’s probably more the side that doesn’t come naturally to him, being a wide receiver in high school,” Saffell said. “He’s getting better and better (as a blocker) and his technique is improving every day. He’s a really fun player to work with.”

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