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by Chris Murray
I was recently conversing with a Wolf Pack staffer when a story idea popped into my head — Has Nevada football had more standouts from Northern Nevada high school scholarship players or local prep walk-ons?
You'd figure the answer was scholarship players. After all, if the Wolf Pack properly assesses local talent, it is sifting through the region's top local standouts and making it a point of emphasis to bring them to campus on scholarship.
But after doing the research, that might not be the case. The Wolf Pack might be getting more star- and starter-level players via local walk-ons than local scholarship players. I looked at the last 20 seasons of Wolf Pack football and culled the names of every Northern Nevada high school scholarship player on Nevada's roster. I also added any notable local players who began their Wolf Pack careers as walk-ons.
I then sorted them into one of four categories, including "All-Conference" (players voted to the All-WAC/MW teams); "Starter" (must have started 10-plus games in their career); "Key Reserve" (a player with less than 10 career starts but meaningful playing time); and "Other" (a player with limited in-game snaps). Here is the outcome.
All-conference player (four): DB Duke Williams; OL Jeff Nady; QB Jeff Rowe; DE J.J. Milan
Starter (five): LS Wes Farnsworth; OL Connor Talbott; OL Kyle Roberts; LB Josh Mauga; OL Charles Manu
Key reserve (six): LB Jackson LaDuke; RB Ashton Hayes; OLB Chris Smalley; OL Clifford Porter; TE Stephen Jeffers; RB/DB Kenny Viser
Other (eight): OL Tyler Miller; WR Marshaun Brown; QB Drew Scolari; DE Ricky Thomas Jr.; DL Nick Gregg; QB Hunter Fralick; RB Mike Kanellis; RB Kyle Eklund
All-conference player (two): DE Sam Hammond; OL Austin Corbett
Starter (eight): DT Zak Mahannah; OL Nathan Edwards; LB Lucas Weber; TE Trae Carter-Wells; OL Jeremy Macauley; LS Tyler Wilson; K Anthony Martinez; P Derek Jones
Key reserve (11): TE Cameron Zeidler; OL Trey Hamilton; FB/TE Reagan Roberson; DB Anthony Hankins; TE Trae Carter-Wells; WR Tucker Melcher; TE/DE Jacob Drahos; TE Talaiasi Puloka; DB L.J. Jackson; DB Cameron Bayne; WR Andy McIntosh
As you can see, there's no "other" category for the walk-ons because if I listed every local walk-on for Nevada over the last 20 years who didn't earn a reserve role, the list would be 40-plus-players deep. But the numbers of all-conference players, starters and key reserves aren't two dissimilar.
The scholarship group had four all-league players (Williams, Nady, Rowe, Milan) to just two for the walk-ons (Hammond, Corbett), but Corbett is clearly the best player in that group. The walk-ons hold an edge in the "starter" category, eight to five. It also had nearly double the number of key reserves, although that's to be expected given how many walk-ons there have been compared to scholarship players.
Obviously, this column isn't meant to dissuade Wolf Pack coaches from handing scholarships out to local players. The more the merrier. There's been more NFL-level talent via scholarships than walk-ons in Williams, Rowe, Mauga, Roberts, Farnsworth and Milan. But Nevada's production at the college level from local walk-ons basically matches that of scholarship players over the last 20 years, which is, at minimum, interesting.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.
