Former IU walk-ons now have scholarships

Rudy" brought them into the limelight. They're the definition of what college football is all about.\nThey're walk-ons.\nSenior Matt Foss and junior Kyle Warriner walked onto the IU football team in 1999 and 2000, respectively. This summer, both were given scholarships by IU coach Gerry DiNardo for their hard work and contributions to IU's special teams.\nFoss starts on the kickoff, kickoff return, punt and punt return teams. Warriner long snaps on field goals and punts.\nBoth said it was a dream come true to have all of their hard work come to fruition.\n"I was excited first of all to tell my parents they didn't have to pay for school," Foss said. "It's like getting your first job and being able to pay for your food without someone else supporting you."\nFor a team that touts only 64 scholarship players compared to the NCAA maximum of 85, the Hoosier walk-ons are even more necessary at IU than other Big Ten schools. If those walk-ons work hard enough, they can be rewarded with a full-ride. Ten current IU players are now on scholarship that weren't offered one out of high school, said DiNardo.\nWarriner said good walk-on players are necessities.\n"I remember hearing that good programs have a great walk-on base," Warriner said. "You've got to get good walk-ons."\nFlashback to when the two were freshmen and they weren't as enthusiastic. Foss and Warriner said freshman year was the hardest time to be a walk-on. It was also the most tempting time to quit.\nFor Warriner, the combination of school and football freshman year was almost too much.\n"Freshman year, when you're just getting down into school, everything is so overwhelming," Warriner said. "You're buried four deep on the depth chart. All you do is go out there (practice) and get your butt kicked on the scout team. That was the darkest time."\nWalk-ons suffer from an inferiority complex, according to Foss, meaning that walk-on players know that scholarship players recognize them as walk-ons.\nDuring Foss' freshman year, he had a run-in with a famous former Hoosier, Antwaan Randle El, reminding him that his high school gridiron days at Snider High School in Fort Wayne were over.\n"The hardest time as a walk-on is when you're known as a walk-on," Foss said. "That first year when you're talking to 'Twan and he knows. You talk to those guys and you feel kind of out of place. You used to be the guy that everybody else looked up to. Now you're the guy at the bottom looking for somebody to hold on to and help you through the whole thing."\nHelping Foss and Warriner though three and two years of practice, respectively, without playing was the shot of getting on the field. \nFor the Plainfield, Ind. native, Warriner's first moment on the collegiate gridiron came in 2002 in the season-opening game against William & Mary. Unlike the remaining majority of the punt team, all eyes were on Warriner as the punter awaited the snap.\n"I went out there and I was terrified," Warriner said. "If I fired the snap over (the punter's) head, they're going to say 'He's done.' After I got that first snap and put it right in his stomach, I was fine after that."\nDiNardo said he will continue to reward walk-on players.\n"(The program) has been terrific," DiNardo said. "We could not function the way we do on a day-to-day basis without them. We had a 46-man rookie squad and only signed 26 guys. We did a terrific job recruiting walk-ons and bringing them in for visits, and it has reaped good benefits."\nFinancially, the benefits for Foss and Warriner started this summer. \nBut playing in a game made the pair feel like a part of the team.\n"Before I put on an IU jersey and stood on the sidelines," Foss said, "I had all of the flashy stuff and all of the Nike gear. But it never really meant anything to me until I got on the field. That first play felt like the thousand plays I played in high school. Every play after means so much more and I remember it so much more. I played college football. I played Big Ten football."\n-- Contact staff writer John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.