Scholarships transform students’ lives

Not every student-athlete gets a scholarship. Some take the difficult road to becoming an athlete by walking onto a team.

Sophomore kicker Matt Mercurio and senior offensive lineman Trevor Robbins took on these difficulties and went from being walk ons to full-scholarship student-athletes. 

“[SJSU] was the only school that reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, if you want to walk on here, there’s a spot for you,’ ” Mercurio said over Zoom. 

Similarly, Robbins said when he was applying to universities, he sent an email to seven college football coaches and several directors of personnel asking if he would have the opportunity to walk on. SJSU and the University of Nevada, Reno were the only ones who offered him a chance and he said SJSU was the program for him because he felt the coaches showed more interest in him.

Walking onto a sports team isn’t as easy for a university student as it is for a high school recruit. Walk-on players have the challenge of figuring out the dynamic of the team on top of learning the team’s plays.

“Coming in and having to meet new people and play next to them at the same time, it was pretty weird at first,” Robbins said over Zoom. “I was a month behind trying to figure out who the people on the team were, trying to meet everybody and trying to learn the offense.” 

While Robbins walked onto the team Fall semester of his freshman year, Mercurio decided to wait until spring. 

Mercurio said that walking on in late January for spring training gave him more time to settle in with the team and get to know the coaches and plays better. 

While trying to improve their skills and deal with the hectic life of a college student, both athletes said being a walk on means you have to go above and beyond to get noticed by coaches. 

They said the way to get noticed and maybe earn a scholarship is based on how well walk ons can manage their schedules and how well they perform.

“How are they academically? Are they good students, are they responsible and respectful of the academic process here? That’s where it starts,” said head coach Brent Brennan over the phone. “Then it’s based on their contributions on the field. Are they dependable, do they know what they’re doing [in plays], are they playing a big role on game day?” 

Brennan said that walk on players earn their scholarships by showing how well they handle their academics, if they act professional and how well they play. 

“After my first season I knew I was a walk on because I wasn’t as big as other linemen and I wasn’t as athletic as them, but the one thing that helped me separate myself from everyone else is how smart I am and how smart my football IQ is,” Robbins said. “By the time I got into the off season after my second season, I pretty much mastered the offense of what I needed to know. After being able to do that I was able to show the coaches that I know what I’m doing and I was able to separate myself from everyone else.” 

Robbins said that a lesson that some walk ons learn is that it’s not about making flashy plays, but about playing the game and understanding what is important, such as football IQ. 

“In the beginning I struggled a bit to try and impress coaches and players, but luckily I was able to reground myself, change up my priority and get after it that second year,” Mercurio said. 

Mercurio and Robbins said that walk-on players need to work harder in school and on the field if they want to obtain a scholarship, but once they got theirs it was life changing. “I told my parents initially that if I didn’t get a scholarship at a certain point and if there ever came a point in time where they just couldn’t afford my school anymore, then I would happily drop out,” Mercurio said. “I have three younger brothers that also are planning on going to college and I would much rather have them go to college than me.”

Much like Mercurio, Robbins stressed the importance of the scholarship as it helped him and his family financially. 

“Being able to let them know that they don’t have to pay for school anymore, worry about me for any sort of money and knowing that they don’t have to take care of me anymore was cool,” Robbins said. “When I told my mom I got on scholarship, she thought it was only for tuition and not that I didn’t need her to help me pay rent anymore or get food. Now they have been able to use that money to help out with traveling to our away games, travel the country and be able to live their lives more.”

Brennan said he loves being able to have a meaningful impact on players’ lives by awarding them scholarships. 

“One of the best things you get to do as head coach is reward a non-scholarship player with a scholarship,” Brennan said.