PULLMAN — Jake Dickert believes there could be an edge for Washington State as the proposed scholarship limit shifts from 85 to 105. Once the NCAA settlement is approved, as is expected, and schools can move to as many as 105 scholarships; each football team across the country will be entitled up to 20 more scholarships than now. Dickert, after the Cougs’ Wednesday practice in the new Taylor Sports Complex, said he believes Wazzu can level the playing field against the ‘Richie Rich’ schools.
The process is expected to do away with walk ons entirely for many schools. But the SEC has already said it will keep the 85-scholarship limit in place for 2025. That caught Dickert’s attention.
“It’s going to be very important because I still believe in the developmental process,” Dickert said. “As some of the Power Four goes to just staying at 85, let’s say we get 93 guys on scholarship: eight more guys to develop than them. I think that’s where we’re going to keep creating our edge.”
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THE DOWNSIDE OF COURSE is the impact on walk ons. In 2023-24, the average D-I roster size in football was 121.4, with the scholie limit at 85 and the rest primarily walk ons. If the settlement is approved and the 105-scholarship limit is enacted, the scholarship limit would effectively act as the roster limit.
This season, Washington State has 121 players and while the usual movement will occur with graduations, transfers in and out, prep and JC signees, etc., there will be some difficult decisions forced upon Dickert and every other coach at a D-I school.
“I think the 105 is tough,” Dickert said. “We’re at a roster of (about) 120 and that means and I have to cut 15 walk-on guys that deserve opportunities. We wouldn’t be able to operate the way we’ve had the last couple of years without those guys. Would we have Cooper Mathers, Kyle Thornton, Tanner Moku, Dean Janikowski? … And I’m missing a bunch of other guys. So that’s the thing that really hurts. Tough decisions all around.
There is also a scenario where the Power Four leagues abandon their own limits. If all or most teams, regardless of league, move to 105 scholarships then college athletics will move back in time … back to the days when there were no limits, and the top schools stockpiled all the top recruits with no maximum threshold. It was done, in part, to keep that talent from playing against them.
“I haven’t thought much about that if I’m being honest with you,” Dickert said. “At the end of the day — in the spring — there’s going to be probably 15 to 20 guys cut from every Power 5 team in the country. Think about that. That’s a tough thing to manage and handle.”
WSU has its well-known stories of walk-on glory with the likes of Luke Falk, Armani Marsh, Cory Withrow, Lincoln Victor, and many more. On the current roster in addition to those Dickert named, Quinn Roff and Billy Riviere also began their Cougar careers as walk ons before earning scholarships.
Less quantifiable but no less impactful: the in-season practice work a team does each week vs. the scout teams for that week’s opponent. The better the competition, the better the starters. Take away the walk ons from the equation, and the resulting dominoes that would potentially fall, and you have a vastly different dynamic.
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