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Get off your butt and get on the bench! It’s walk-on season!

Gatorade

Gatorade bottles on the bench during preseason NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the San Diego Chargers on Friday, Aug. 24, 2012 in Minneapolis.(AP Photo/Andy King)

AP

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be a walk-on at a DI college program. Fans seem to really embrace the guys at the end of the bench, calling for them to enter games that are out of reach and screaming like crazy on those rare occasions when a practice player scores a point. Sure, there’s an ironic edge to it sometimes, but for the most part, it’s a bit of vicarious wish fulfillment for us fans: that guy is kind of like us. He’s living our dream.

College programs across the nation are filling out rosters with walk-on players right now. Got game? Maybe you should go try out. Maybe you should even let us know what it’s like if you do try out, make it or not. Drop us a line via Twitter, or, better yet, live-tweet from tryouts. You never know when you could end up being the next Mark ‘The Shark’ Titus.

You could get your name in an official school press release, like these guys did at Bradley:

PEORIA, Ill. – With classes for the 2012 Fall semester underway, Bradley has added three non-scholarship players, all guards, to its roster for the 2012-13 men’s basketball season.

The addition of Mason Alwan (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods H.S.), Jimmy Gavin (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect H.S.) and Darrion Harris (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) gives the Braves a 16-man roster this season.


It’s too late for you to join the Braves for the upcoming MVC season, but the window is still open if you want to wear the uniform once donned by Larry Bird at Indiana State:


TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State basketball head coach Greg Lansing has announced that he and his coaching staff will host a walk-on meeting for those interested in joining the Sycamores for the 2012-13 campaign.

The Sycamore basketball walk-on meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 28 at 4:00 p.m. in the ISU Arena (South Gym).

At Appalachian State, you have a couple of weeks to get in shape before the mass open tryouts begin:

BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men’s basketball will hold walk-on tryouts at Varsity Gym on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m.

All interested full-time students must sign up for the tryouts in the basketball office at the Holmes Center by Friday, Sept. 14 at 4 p.m.

To sign up for tryouts, please bring the following:
• A recent physical, including results for Sickle-Cell Anemia test
• Proof of Insurance
• Copy of Fall Class Schedule
• Copy of Appalachian Student ID

Students must bring all of the above to register for tryouts. No exceptions will be made.

Athletic training staff will be on hand at the tryouts to distribute liability waivers and those trying out are responsible for bringing their own athletic apparel to the tryout.


I love that last bit. Please do not arrive for tryouts naked.

It’s probably best to have your academic house in order, too. Given the choice between a better player with mediocre grades and a mediocre player with strong grades that will bring the team average up, I think we all know which way your average coach will lean.

Check your school’s athletic schedule. Give it a go. Let us know how it turns out.