Walk On D1 or Play JUCO?

A common question athletes ask is if they should go to a JUCO and play for 1-2 years in hopes of a scholarship to a bigger school or Walk On at a bigger university as a freshman. Today we are going to discuss the positives and negatives of both. I hope this can help! 

ALSO, WE ARE TRAVELING TO 12 MORE STATES FOR QB/WR SKILL CAMPS! We are coming to The DMV, Charlotte NC, Dallas TX, St. Louis MO, Honolulu HI, Boston MA, Cleveland OH, Austin TX, Seattle WA, Newark NJ, Denver CO, & Los Angeles CA…. If you want more info and want to know how you can sign up, checkout the link below! https://www.firstdowntraining.com/book-online

So a lot of people think that walking on is some easy task that anybody can do. They are completely mistaken. It takes a special type of player to walk on to a university. It is extremely tough. They put you through a very tough tryout physically and mentally. They will try to break you because honestly to a college program you are just another jersey and player they have to travel. So they want a reason to not have you on the team. That’s just the honest truth. Also if you aren’t a “preferred walk on” you don’t get to attend fall camp with the team. So if you just graduated your senior year, you don’t start practice in June/July. You start in September or later when classes start. So you are already way behind everyone else. Also, all of the guys on the team are mainly scholarship guys. So you are going to be paying for meals, your books etc. while doing all of the same work as them. It is a very tough road. Also not to mention, you will be paying for your tuition. Now, if you don’t care about that & just simply want to play/can afford to pay for college then by all means go for it! I just think JUCO might be the better route. But that is just my opinion.

A JUCO is a junior college where you can spend 1-2 years there and earn an AA degree while playing football. You will lose NCAA eligibility when you transfer or get a scholarship to a 4 year school however JUCO is cheap. Especially in California where I live. It’s almost free. So if you don’t have the financial means to pay for college, JUCO is a great option. Find a team that doesn’t carry a huge roster & that has a good track record of getting people scholarships. You can also transfer even after 1 year if you are an NCAA qualifier and can maintain good grades. And colleges will recruit players from JUCO who can play right away. They don’t recruit to develop. So figure this, you have 1-2 years of development, paying pennies on the dollar for the same education you would get at a 4 year school (besides the schools like Harvard). Your first two years of college are BS anyways because you are taking the general classes that are mandatory. You’d take the same ones at a 4 year, but you’d be spending 20k plus per year. Then your last two years of college have potential to be free. I personally think JUCO is a better option, at the end of the day it’s your decision but those are the facts.