SOUTH BEND — Luke Talich, a preferred walk-on safety for Notre Dame football turned scholarship-holding contributor, was not among those called to testify in the House settlement hearing on April 7 in Oakland, Calif.
Now a rising junior for the Irish, Talich offered his broad-based thoughts on proposed roster limitations after a recent spring practice.
“I think it’s tragic, honestly,” Talich said ahead of Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium. “As a walk-on myself, if I was two years younger, I would never have that opportunity.”
While senior U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken suggested that opportunities for walk-ons be protected, the specter of a July 1 implementation still looms within the $2.8 billion revenue-sharing settlement.
Under a proposal from the NCAA and lawyers for Power-4 conferences, FBS-level football rosters could be reduced to 105 players, starting this fall.
With major programs set to work from a de facto salary cap of $20.5 million across all sports, and with the vast majority of that earmarked for football, the value proposition for walk-ons could evaporate.
In Notre Dame football’s case, the fall roster projects at 120 players, including 13 scholarship signees or incoming transfers set to enroll in June. Any cutdown to 105 figures to affect those who enroll without athletic scholarship assistance.
“I don’t know what the system is; I don’t know how it has to work,” Talich said. “But there has to be some system for walk-ons, I believe.”
Notre Dame football walk-ons could face a sad game of musical chairs
A coach’s son from the northwestern Wyoming town of Cody (pop. 10,240), Talich passed up scholarship offers from Wyoming, Oregon State, Utah, Washington State and Colorado State to walk on at his dream school.
By November of his freshman year in 2023, Talich’s play on Irish special teams had earned him a scholarship, even as he faced clavicle surgery.
Now listed at 6-foot-4 and 213 pounds, he worries such stories will become rare, if not impossible, should the House settlement be approved.
“What’s free agency in the NFL? It’s kind of walking on,” he said. “I don’t think you should just limit or kill those opportunities for all those kids. You think about this new settlement that’s coming, the amount of kids that are going to be looking for some place to go, and there’s probably not going to be that many places.”
Indeed, this could become a sad game of musical chairs.
“It’s not good,” Talich said. “I don’t know why they’re doing it. Technically, I guess it has to do with NIL (Name, Image and Likeness). For me, and for a lot of people in America, it’s never been about ...
