Texas Tech University Athletics
Diamonds in the Rough
October 02, 2006 | Football
Oct. 2, 2006
By Trey Shipman, Texas Tech Media Relations
With competition what it is today in college football, recruiting is everything. It's a tool that works in a continuous cycle to pump life into a program year in and year out. The strategies can range from a home cooked dinner with the head coach, to a mock introduction in the stadium with the voice of the PA announcer and recorded crowd ovation blasting from the loud speakers.
But outside of the flash and flair that programs use to attract the very best athletes, lays a road less traveled. On that road is the walk-on.
Often times the walk-on isn't likely to tower over opponents or dazzle anyone with a 40 time. A smaller high school might have caused them to fly under radar or sometimes the recruiting process just didn't go as expected. No matter what the scenario, the walk-on wants only one thing: a chance.
Texas Tech is no exception when it comes to finding diamonds in the rough, with former quarterback Sonnie Cumbie as one of the most notable examples. As a senior, and his only season as the starter under center, Cumbie threw for 32 touchdowns and 4, 742 yards, good enough to lead the nation in passing.
"I wanted to compete at the highest level of competition and with Texas Tech being in the Big 12, I knew I'd be able to do that," Cumbie said.
As a senior, Cumbie led the Red Raiders to an 8-4 record including an improbable 45-31 Holiday Bowl victory over then-No. 4 California in which he threw for 520 yards and three touchdowns.
"When I came to Tech, I didn't come to be a part of the scout team," he said. "I came to be the starting quarterback. Once I got the chance, it felt good to know that all the hard work I put in had paid off."
The Red Raiders have found themselves reaping the benefits of another former walk-on this season in junior kicker Alex Trlica. In Tech's Sept. 10 contest against Texas-El Paso, it squandered a first half lead and found itself in an overtime struggle. After an apparent game-winning touchdown was waved off and multiple penalties backed the Red Raiders up from an initial spot on the UTEP 25-yard line, their hopes rested on the right foot of Trlica and a 49-yard field goal attempt.
"I just tried to approach it like any other kick and trust myself and do what I've done who knows how many times in practice," Trlica said of his game-saving effort. "When I saw the refs hands in the air it was more of a relief than an excitement."
The Red Raider kicker added that it's nice to be in the situation to win a game for his team, but as a walk-on, it's not something that's handed to you.
"If you're brought in on a scholarship, you're on the team," Trlica said. "They're bringing you in because they're going to use you. When you come in as a walk-on you feel a little bit more like you have to earn your spot on the team, it's not there for you, you have to earn it."
Current Tech linebacker Brent Slaughter began his career as a walk-on, only after falling victim to the recruiting process. After committing to Kansas following his junior year of high school, programs that had pursued him gave up the chase. Though, when the Jayhawks chose to go in a different direction with their coaching staff, Slaughter was left without a scholarship and chose to accept a preferred walk-on offer from Tech.
"If you're a normal walk-on coming off the streets it's a little different, it's hard," said the senior who did work his way onto scholarship for the Red Raiders. "I came from a small school and had great stats so I thought I'd give it a shot, but I didn't know how it'd be playing at this level. I figured I'd do some special teams play and be happy with my career. Now that I'm a part of the defense it's gotten a little crazy. I just have to kind of sit back and say, `wow.'"
Aside from the players that go from walk-on to key contributor, there lies another set of individuals. They lift the same weights, run the same sprints and go through the same practices knowing all along that their game day experience likely won't stretch any further than the sideline. While playing time is always the goal, just the chance to step on the field and dawn the red and black is enough for a dream come true.
Tech junior inside receiver Kelly Hildebrandt is one of these players. He knew from a young age that becoming a Red Raider was the only option and after graduating high school, he was intent on making it happen.
Unable to secure a spot on the team in the fall of his freshman year, Hildebrandt took part in the walk-on tryouts the following spring.
"The first two weeks of (workouts) were the hardest weeks of my life, bar-none," he said. "(They) had us working out at 5 a.m. in the morning so I was getting two to three hours of sleep per night for two weeks. Once I made it through that, I knew nothing would be worse."
Hildebrandt has now been part of the Red Raider program for over two years and though he hasn't seen any game action, he was able to answer the question that seems to fuel so many other walk-on athletes - he'll never have to wonder what might have been.
"It's one of those things people ask me, `do you regret coming here, you're going into your junior year and you haven't gotten any playing time,'" he said. "I don't regret it for a minute because if I wouldn't have come here and gone to a smaller school, I would have always wondered `what if?'"
