Honestly I would never let my kid walk on at D1 school, for every success story you hear there are hundreds of kids that spend 4 years being cannon fodder and never getting a scholarship. If ND is willing to take you as a walk on there is no reason you can't go play football at an Ivy, Chicago, Wash U, Johns Hopkins or some other elite academic school and enjoy your 4 years playing instead of being a tackling dummy.
ClownBaby - I get what you're saying, but there is also no guarantee that you play there either, obviously, the probability is greater but still no guarantee. But I totally understand that if you are good enough to get a walk-on why not go somewhere you know you can play.Interesting take. My son has a teammate that he went on visits to Wash U, Chicago and other similar schools with. These schools are clamoring for this kid to come play there. The young man can't get past the level of play and the lack of school enthusiasm and fan attendance. He has told my son he would rather walk-on at a Div 1 school with the possibility to never see the field. Just wants to be a part of the bigger college football scene. I don't think this is a common opinion. Most kids just want to play football.
It's definitely a personal decision. You have to admit, there is no comparison between being part of the football program at ND and travelling the midwest playing for Wash U or Chicago at a cut above HS football.
If his focus is baseball and a possible pro career lies there, I can totally see him wanting to be part of the experience of ND football while he is at it. What does playing football at an Ivy or top academic div 3 school do for him baseball-wise?
NDSox - I totally agree with what you mentioned above, and the opinion of your son's teammate is much more common than you would think. There is a reason so many kids stop playing after 1 or 2 years.
I think what people don't see is how grueling the D3 life is and all the benefits D1 gets and a D1 walk-on gets. I know many people would agree you would rather have your child go to a D3, D2...etc instead of taking a walk-on at a D1. If you come from a good high school program, going D3 is almost like taking a step back, unless you go to one of the major top 3-5 D3 schools. I've coached many kids that easily could have been deserving of D1 or D1-aa walk-ons but went to play at a lower level and quit. D3 does all the same work as a D1 or D1 walk-on player with none of the benefits.
Lower Level football compared to being a D1 walk-on,
- Most likely no meals, maybe a pregame sandwich made by the coach's wife compared to more food than you could ever eat.
- You bus to every game, sometimes these bus rides are 5-6 hours long instead of getting on a plane (Illinois takes a plane to Iowa.....a 40-minute flight) if you make the travel roster.
- Many D3 players have to get jobs during the season and especially after the season to pay for things such as food, rent, books, normal college things...as compared to a D1 walk-on that might have to, but gets all their books for free, gets almost all of their food for free.
- Swag/gear, D3 you pay for everything you get, maybe a few free t-shirts, as compared to D1 where you get thousands of dollars of gear every year.
- D1 compared to D3 school atmosphere, lots of D3s are very small schools, some of them are smaller than the high school you come from. If you come from a larger high school.
- Priority in choosing classes, D3 you don't get priority, D1 walk-on you choose classes before any other students
- D3 pay for tutors, D1 free tutors mandatory study hours with tutors
- FINALLY, I think the most important thing that gets overlooked is the number of fans. When you come from a big high school program and are used to playing in front of 1-2 thousand people and then go D3 where it looks like a Saturday morning JV game can really get them dishearted. As compared to D1 where there are 10s of thousands of fans.
TLDR; I know many kids that have gone and played D3 football and then quit and wished they would have taken that D1 walk-on instead.