Thanks to 'Huge Blessing' from Former Player, Oklahoma Walk-Ons Now Have Door to NIL
NORMAN — Owen Heinecke told his dad last year that he’d rather be on the bench for the Oklahoma football team for four years than be a scholarship athlete and starter in another sport at another school.
Heinecke’s passion for being an OU linebacker has been rewarded with playing time in the crimson and cream this season — a reward that just got much greater, at least financially speaking.
Heinecke and other OU walk-ons learned last week that they now have their own NIL earning opportunities, just for walk-ons — and thanks to a former Sooner walk-on who set the standard.
Chris Hammons, who grew up in small-town Oklahoma and walked on at OU in 1997 — then earned a scholarship, was named co-captain and won a national championship in 2000 — told the team last week that he was creating an NIL avenue for OU walk-ons through his Oklahoma City law firm.
“It was awesome,” Heinecke told AllSooners. “ … We all thought it was a cool story and a story that we all aspire to achieve one day. So when he surprised us with it, it erupted pretty loud.”
Through NIL — Name, Image and Likeness — college athletes can now earn money by lending their name, their image or their likeness to a variety of business ventures. They can sign autographs or endorse products or, like quarterback Dillon Gabriel or linebacker Danny Stutsman, sell T-shirts or other merchandise with their image or their own personal brand.
Walk-ons don’t play as much and aren’t as recognizable, so NIL earning opportunities are more scarce.
Hammons is changing that at his alma mater.
Hammons recounted his story of leaving a football scholarship at Division II East Central University in 1997 to walk on at OU. He said he was working at a construction site in Sulphur when his brother drove up in the middle of a shift.
“He says, ‘Hey, Merv Johnson just called. They want you at practice — today,” Hammons told the team.
“They handed me pads, took me inside the locker room and gave me a locker,” Hammons said. “I went out there and I (found) some people that looked like tight ends.”
Hammons also told the story of working so hard during a 1999 workout that strength coach Jerry Schmidt — who was in the back of the room last week listening to Hammons — told him in 1999 if he had a dozen more like him, OU would win the national championship. Hammons informed Schmit he was only a walk-on.
The next day, Hammons said, he was placed on scholarship. And a year later, OU won the national championship.
“Obviously that’s a dream come true story for walk-ons,” Heinecke said.
“For me, like, that’s the example,” said wide receiver Major Melson. “Like, ‘Look. He did it,’ obviously.”
Melson was actually placed on scholarship in February, along with kicker Zach Schmit, punter Josh Plaster, wide receiver Gavin Freeman and defensive back Pierce Hudgens. It’s common for a coach — particularly a new coach in the middle of a roster transition, like Brent Venables was last year — to reward walk-ons with athletic scholarships. For them, it’s a dream fulfilled.
For Venables — himself a former walk-on linebacker at Kansas State — it’s just another opportunity to give back and pay it forward.
Melson’s dad Chris Melson, played quarterback at OU and earned four letters for the Sooners from 1988-91. Heinecke, who began his college career playing lacrosse at Ohio State before transferring to OU for football, is the nephew of former Sooner defensive end Cory Heinecke, who played for Venables from 1999-2001 and made 50 tackles on the 2000 national title team. Several other OU walk-ons come from a Sooner legacy as well.
Per last weekend’s official roster, OU currently has 40 walk-ons to go with 85 scholarship players.
Those spots are invaluable to the team makeup as both the Oklahoma offense and the OU defense populate their scout teams with talented walk-ons, players who were stars in high school but whose primary role in college is to simulate the upcoming opponent in practice.
Walk-ons also contribute on gameday. According to Pro Football Focus, 21 walk-ons (including those recently awarded scholarships) have played in games so far this year.
Heinecke, a 6-foot-2, 218-pound third-year sophomore with four years of eligibility remaining (he switched sports), leads all OU walk-ons with 92 special teams snaps. He’s played in all seven games and has made three tackles. Melson played eight special teams snaps against Arkansas State, and played a combined 20 offensive snaps against Arkansas State and Tulsa.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than playing in the game, obviously,” Melson said. “For me, this is my fourth year and this is the first time I’ve played at all. Those are my first snaps as a Sooner. It was super-rewarding. … To even get a half-tackle on kickoff, man, I loved it.”
Limitations for non-scholarship athletes aren’t as stringent as they used to be. Just a decade ago, walk-ons couldn’t eat the same meals — or even dine in the same facilities — that their scholarship teammates could. Such restrictions have been relaxed in recent years, and they’re more a part of the whole team now.
But walk-ons still don’t get the monthly scholarship checks. Nor do they get the cost-of-attendance stipends that were enacted in 2015, or other certain benefits.
“Gas and food and rent — everything adds up,” Melson said. “Scholarship guys don’t have to worry about that.”
And most programs don’t really have much in the way of NIL opportunities for non-scholarship athletes. Which local merchant or national corporation wants to pay a walk-on to come out for an autograph appearance or a charity event when you can pay a scholarship athlete?
But that’s now changed at Oklahoma.
“Chris Hammons coming back and just bringing some light to the walk-ons and just helping us out financially, it’s been a huge blessing,” Melson said. “I’m really appreciative of it.”
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