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I'm a walk-on receiver at Utah. Ask me anything about what this actually costs.

Tanner Ily✓7h214 replies96 voices
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Coach cleared me to do this so here we go. Quick background: I'm going into year three. Preferred walk-on out of Bountiful. I've never been on scholarship. I made the travel roster for the first time last November against Iowa State and I've got a real shot at special teams this fall. People assume "on the team at a Power Four school" means taken care of. For the 85 guys on scholarship, mostly yes. For the rest of us it means you're on the roster and you're on your own. Summer housing isn't covered. Meal plan covers you during the season, not the gaps. I work a warehouse shift in North Salt Lake and then drive to 6am workouts. I'm not complaining — I chose this and I'd choose it again. But people keep asking so I figured I'd just answer everything in one place. Ask me whatever. I'll be in here until it's dead.
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Tanner Ily✓6h
To be clearer, because a few people are asking the same thing: $4,800 covers one walk-on's summer housing. That's the whole number. It's not a program, it's rent. I want to be careful here — I'm not asking anybody for anything. Somebody in this thread already started a fund page before I could say don't, and I'll be honest, I cried in my truck about it. But if you're reading this and you were about to send something, the general Walk-On Fund helps more guys than helping just me does. There are eleven of us in the same spot and I'm the only one with a thread.
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Dana Whitmer6h
What's the number? Like if someone wanted to cover a summer for one walk-on, what does that actually cost in dollars?
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Tanner Ily✓6h
Rent for June through August in the complexes near campus where most of the guys live is about $1,600 a month with a roommate. So call it $4,800 for a summer. Food on top of that if you're trying to actually eat like a receiver and not like a college kid.
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Kolby Reid6h
Did the 105 cap change anything for you personally or was it mostly noise for guys in your spot?
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Tanner Ily✓5h
It changed everything and I found out about it from Twitter like everybody else. Two guys I came in with aren't on the roster this year. Not cut for performance — the number just went down and somebody had to come off it. They're both still in school. One of them still lifts with us at 6am because he doesn't know what else to do with the morning.
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Ryan Teague5h
My kid is a junior at Viewmont trying to walk on somewhere. What do you wish someone had told you before you did this?
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Tanner Ily✓5h
That nobody is coming to tell you you're doing a good job. Scholarship guys get told. You get film cut-ups with your name spelled wrong. If he needs external validation to keep going he'll quit in October of year one. If he can run on nothing but knowing he earned the rep, he'll be fine. Tell him to call me, seriously.
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