I was told by my ALO and even when I was interviewing for a MOC nomination to contact the academy ASAP about even wanting to walk-on to play football. I did the questionnaire on the website and have emailed the appropriate regional coach. How long should it take for them to get back to you and does anyone have experience being a walk-on IC at the academy?
Playing football at the academy
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Christcorp
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Don't worry about the "Walk On" part. There's a time during Basic Training where you'll be told about trying out for the various sports after BCT is over.
But definitely try and make contact ahead of time like you're doing. If the coaches have time, they'll look you up with your high school coaches, look for newspaper articles with your name in it, and other accolades.
You must remember that while this is a military academy and we don't give out "Scholarships" per se, the coaches still have to abide by NCAA rules that govern when and how many times a coach is allowed to contact potential recruited athletes. Also, how many visits are allowed, etc.... The rules are 100% identical to any other NCAA D1 school.
Just keep sending emails and info.Go on the athletic website "Goairforcefalcons.com" look up some of the coach's email address. (The coach for your position; NOT the head coach). Send them an email. Send them links to newspapers or online videos of you being praised. e.g. player of the week, your stats, etc... If they are interested in recruiting you, they'll contact you when they can. If not, you can try walking on right after Basic Training.
But definitely try and make contact ahead of time like you're doing. If the coaches have time, they'll look you up with your high school coaches, look for newspaper articles with your name in it, and other accolades.
You must remember that while this is a military academy and we don't give out "Scholarships" per se, the coaches still have to abide by NCAA rules that govern when and how many times a coach is allowed to contact potential recruited athletes. Also, how many visits are allowed, etc.... The rules are 100% identical to any other NCAA D1 school.
Just keep sending emails and info.Go on the athletic website "Goairforcefalcons.com" look up some of the coach's email address. (The coach for your position; NOT the head coach). Send them an email. Send them links to newspapers or online videos of you being praised. e.g. player of the week, your stats, etc... If they are interested in recruiting you, they'll contact you when they can. If not, you can try walking on right after Basic Training.
BlahuKahuna
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To the best of my knowledge from knowing football players and working BCT this summer, football doesn't really take walk-ons. They bring in roughly 100 recruits and their practices start during BCT. Your best bet is to make contact before BCT and see what the coaches say about you being on their roster.
Some sports take walk-ons after basic but certainly not all sports. I'm thinking of a few examples off hand for each. If you are thinking about participating in a IC sport at the Academy but aren't being recruited, you really need to contact the coach before you get to BCT to see how they handle their 4* roster.
Some sports take walk-ons after basic but certainly not all sports. I'm thinking of a few examples off hand for each. If you are thinking about participating in a IC sport at the Academy but aren't being recruited, you really need to contact the coach before you get to BCT to see how they handle their 4* roster.
Christcorp
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There is no "how many". Unlike a traditional university that give out scholarships and have red shirt freshmen, and a set roster, the academies are a little different. Except for a small handful of freshmen, the rest of the freshmen are on what is called a jv team. They aren't on the regular varsity roster. They do play games, every Friday, but they are against junior colleges and d2 schools. But the practice and do everything else with the varsity team.
So, the academy can and will take any walk ons they ant. Then, by the end of the first season, they will get rid of "x" amount of players. Most freshmen, plus som others. Then, at the end of spring training, thy will get rid of some more. Then, at the end of summer practice, which the freshmen are now sophomores and a new batch of freshmen are coming in, the will reduce more to get to the NCAA roster level they are allowed.
For what it's worth, there are between 50-60 freshmen coming in each year. By the end of the first season, there will be about 30-40. By the end of spring training, there will be 20-30. In the end, by the time the freshmen ar seniors, there will be around 15-20 left. This season, there are 18 seniors. Most that are cut, are done in the first year. Some are cut in years 2,3, and 4. Some quit on their own because their interests have changed or they find they can't do both football and the academics. Same with all sports. When my son was a freshman and played football, a handful of freshmen, who were recruited just like him, didn't even make it through summer practice after basic training. They knew it was going to be tough and quit football right after BCT and before the season had already started. And for what it's worth, to those who question recruited athletes, these individuals, while recruited athletes, were direct entries, didn't go to prep school, and had excellent applications in their own right. They just happen to be able to play football besides being academically proficient.
So, to answer your question, the academy can take as many walk ons or recruited athletes as they want to. Whether they get to stay on the team more than a month, summer, first season, spring season, or into the next year season, is totally up to their performance and the coach. They still can only have so many on the active roster. Mind you, this is for football. Each sport has their own roster rules.
So, the academy can and will take any walk ons they ant. Then, by the end of the first season, they will get rid of "x" amount of players. Most freshmen, plus som others. Then, at the end of spring training, thy will get rid of some more. Then, at the end of summer practice, which the freshmen are now sophomores and a new batch of freshmen are coming in, the will reduce more to get to the NCAA roster level they are allowed.
For what it's worth, there are between 50-60 freshmen coming in each year. By the end of the first season, there will be about 30-40. By the end of spring training, there will be 20-30. In the end, by the time the freshmen ar seniors, there will be around 15-20 left. This season, there are 18 seniors. Most that are cut, are done in the first year. Some are cut in years 2,3, and 4. Some quit on their own because their interests have changed or they find they can't do both football and the academics. Same with all sports. When my son was a freshman and played football, a handful of freshmen, who were recruited just like him, didn't even make it through summer practice after basic training. They knew it was going to be tough and quit football right after BCT and before the season had already started. And for what it's worth, to those who question recruited athletes, these individuals, while recruited athletes, were direct entries, didn't go to prep school, and had excellent applications in their own right. They just happen to be able to play football besides being academically proficient.
So, to answer your question, the academy can take as many walk ons or recruited athletes as they want to. Whether they get to stay on the team more than a month, summer, first season, spring season, or into the next year season, is totally up to their performance and the coach. They still can only have so many on the active roster. Mind you, this is for football. Each sport has their own roster rules.
Ace Mom - I'm sure things are different every year, but I can give you my son's experience (Class of 2015) in "walking on" to the Academy football team. My son was a recruited athlete for a different sport. But, he wanted to try to play football as well (different season than his other sport). His high school coach football contacted the Academy, sent them film, etc. The Academy coaches let the high school coach know that they would keep an eye out for my son at the walk on tryouts. Near the end of basic, they announced a day that cadets could "try out" (as walk ons) for the football team. My son estimated that about 100 additional cadets attended the try out. After a couple of days, they let them know who could stay; they kept 10. My son was one of the 10. Because there was really not great way to thoroughly evaluate that many players in that short of time, he thought the fact that they already knew who he was (from his coach sending film, etc.), that helped. So - if your son wants to try to walk on to the team, I recommend having his high school coach put in a good work for him. (Keep in mind - just because they "kept" certain players didn't mean they would be on the varsity team - just that they would continue working out with the team. Same goes even for the "recruited" players.)
And, just FYI, after all that, my son ended up deciding that playing two sports at the Academy, along with maintaining his grades, participating in leadership positions, etc. was going to be too much. So, he dropped football after just a few weeks . . . . And, although life has turned out pretty great (he played his other sport all 4 years, had leadership positions, and is now at UPT), he does sometimes wonder "what if" he had stuck with both sports! lol,
And, just FYI, after all that, my son ended up deciding that playing two sports at the Academy, along with maintaining his grades, participating in leadership positions, etc. was going to be too much. So, he dropped football after just a few weeks . . . . And, although life has turned out pretty great (he played his other sport all 4 years, had leadership positions, and is now at UPT), he does sometimes wonder "what if" he had stuck with both sports! lol,
Mitchell2826
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Does the length of bct differ for IC cadets versus non IC cadets? How long is bct?
BlahuKahuna
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No, the length doesn't matter-but some (definitely not all) IC sports have practices when the rest of BCT has intramurals, and football has some additional practices in the second half of BCT. The whole thing is just under 6 weeks.