SEC football coaches united in support to keep walk-ons - ESPN

DESTIN, Fla. — SEC football coaches aren't sure what roster caps will look like under the new settlement that's poised to reshape college sports. Answers aren't due for months.

Collectively, the coaches made it clear Tuesday at SEC spring meetings that they want walk-ons to be part of college football going forward as the details of roster camps are hashed out.

First-year Texas A&M coach Mike Elko came out strongest against the idea of rosters being capped at 85 scholarship players.

«I'm strongly against it,» he said. «I think it's absolutely against college football, what it stands for and what it's about. I think that would be a major problem, especially, when you look at legacies of Texas A&M kids that are going to get the opportunity to play football at Texas A&M potentially taken away from them.

»I think that's something's really bad for the sport."

Georgia coach Kirby Smart began his comments by saying that he's eager to learn about the settlement and what it looks like before forming definitive opinions on the issues. He did make clear that he's the mere idea of eliminating walk-ons is baffling, mentioning that coaches like Will Muschamp and Dabo Swinney started their coaching paths as walk-ons.

«I don't know anybody that would be against having walk-ons,» he said. «At what cost does that bring us? I think it hurts high school football, and football as a whole, when kids can't even dream (the opportunity to walk-on).»

The issues hit home for other coaches. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea is a former walk-on who now coaches at his alma mater. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said his son, Brady, is a Texas walk-on. Elko coaches at a school where the 12th man, which began with a student coming from the stands to play in a