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Walking On at Wake?

CHDeac

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My son is a rising senior in HS and wants to play college football. D3 is a no brainer and he'd have multiple options. He also has some interest from FCS schools like Davidson and Lehigh. He loves Wake and may get in based on academics (its a good target school). He's big (6-4, 230) and has a frame that can get bigger. He was all conference as a junior.

Anyone have experiences / insights about walking on at Wake under Clawson? He met with one of the Wake assistants at high school but since then all camps have been cancelled and I think the fall season is unlikely which further complicates things. He gets the life of a walk-on but simply loves to play.
 
My son is a rising senior in HS and wants to play college football. D3 is a no brainer and he'd have multiple options. He also has some interest from FCS schools like Davidson and Lehigh. He loves Wake and may get in based on academics (its a good target school). He's big (6-4, 230) and has a frame that can get bigger. He was all conference as a junior.

Anyone have experiences / insights about walking on at Wake under Clawson? He met with one of the Wake assistants at high school but since then all camps have been cancelled and I think the fall season is unlikely which further complicates things. He gets the life of a walk-on but simply loves to play.

He has to decide which he values more - the degree or his love to play. If he’d have multiple D3 options, he’d be able to satisfy his love to play. As a walk-on at Wake, unless he makes big strides his first year or two, he’ll likely sit. But he will leave with a Wake degree.
 
What position does he play?

He plays DE/LB and TE (and he punts and kicks). School only has 25 or so on the team...

We def stress the play / degree aspect. Fortunately, he took HS seriously and will have good choices, some better than Wake....But he loves the school and his dream would be to play there or a school like Northwestern. The issue is "play". He def will play at at D3 school and not so much at Wake. But would consider wlaking on. Just not sure if thats even viable....
 
Another consideration since he loves football, is he might want to coach after his college career is over, and what staff can help him start a career coaching in college may help offset not having as much playing time.
 
Good friend of mine played for Clawson at Bowling Green as a walk-on. Not sure if he eventually got a scholarship or not but I don't think he was ever a starter. Even after getting the Wake job Clawson still took time to call him and check in on him years after he'd graduated. When my buddy heard Wake had hired him he was so excited to tell me about how awesome Clawson was and what an inspiration it was to play for him and continue to know him. So for what it's worth, I'd guess the walk-on experience at Wake right now is head-and-shoulders above most others.

That being said, the current walk-on list at Wake looks pretty damn strong, so the mechanics of making the team via that route are likely more complicated than they used to be.
 
If your son is offered a full ride by an FCS or a Division 2 school he should consider it. The schools you mentioned, Davidson and Lehigh offer a quality education and a much higher probability of playing time. They aren't alone.
 
If your son is offered a full ride by an FCS or a Division 2 school he should consider it. The schools you mentioned, Davidson and Lehigh offer a quality education and a much higher probability of playing time. They aren't alone.

Davidson is a great college. Nice little campus, with Charlotte right there next door.
 
If your son is offered a full ride by an FCS or a Division 2 school he should consider it. The schools you mentioned, Davidson and Lehigh offer a quality education and a much higher probability of playing time. They aren't alone.

I'm sure your son gets on Clawson's radar, Coach can put in a good word for your son with coaches from these programs.
 
Sounds like Ivy League, Patriot League, or Davidson is the best fit for play/education combo. Wm & Mary? or "whoa no, Wm & Mary won't do."

Of course you and he have considered the concussion issue.
 
Had a family friends son go to wake as a football preferred walk on at Wake two years ago. Don’t know if the family initiated the contact, but ended with both wake and uva coaching staffs extending the offer, maintaining contact, etc. The fact the family had the ability to full pay certainly factored into the football staffs decision too.

FWIW, the kid dropped off the team after a year - he realized that wasn’t the college experience he was looking for. D1 Power 5 sports mean that’s what your college life will solely revolve around, but if you’re this far along you know what your son is signing up for.
 
Sounds like Ivy League, Patriot League, or Davidson is the best fit for play/education combo. Wm & Mary? or "whoa no, Wm & Mary won't do."

Of course you and he have considered the concussion issue.

Dartmouth and their no tackling practices seem like a pretty sweet spot.
 
Have you and/or your son had any conversations recently with the Wake coaching staff? If not, I’d contact them. I. Sure they would give you an honest assessment and recommendation. Regardless what he chooses to do, good luck and glad that he’s a Wake fan.
 
Had a family friends son go to wake as a football preferred walk on at Wake two years ago. Don’t know if the family initiated the contact, but ended with both wake and uva coaching staffs extending the offer, maintaining contact, etc. The fact the family had the ability to full pay certainly factored into the football staffs decision too.

FWIW, the kid dropped off the team after a year - he realized that wasn’t the college experience he was looking for. D1 Power 5 sports mean that’s what your college life will solely revolve around, but if you’re this far along you know what your son is signing up for.

Livin that YOUTH SPORTS life
 
This is the best advice. They will shoot straight about everything.
Have you and/or your son had any conversations recently with the Wake coaching staff? If not, I’d contact them. I. Sure they would give you an honest assessment and recommendation. Regardless what he chooses to do, good luck and glad that he’s a Wake fan.
 
Some great advice on this thread.

I was in a similar situation to your son entering college. DII and a few FCS offers (Davidson, ETSU, UT-C) as well as a couple of PWO conversations with Duke. The landscape was a little different then (this was during the Caldwell years at Wake), but I ended up deciding to go to Wake and not play, primarily due to the all-encompassing nature of football at the collegiate level. I was happy with my decision to not walk on, but having to do it all over again, I probably would have chosen to play at Davidson (especially given the similar campus experience/education level between the two schools), but at the time I loved Wake - my sister was there and we had season basketball tickets, driving over from TN for nearly every game.

Good luck to him and it sounds like he doesn't really have a bad option, just deciding what he wants his college experience to be.
 
When he gets to Winston I can offer him some outstanding football tips that should pay off bigtime.
 
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