How to walk on to a D1 Football Team
Like most Division 1 colleges, Colorado State University (CSU) has been known to hold “walk-on” tryouts for students interested in joining the football team. Walk-on players are full time students who were not recruited for the program and do not have a football scholarship.
Colorado State University freshman, Dimitri Fabiani-Wyatt always dreamed of playing football in college as a walk-on, so when he got to CSU, he began to look around for ways to get involved with the program.
Since there were not walk-on football tryouts until the spring, he decided to try a new sport for the fall; rugby.
The rugby program at CSU is a Division 1 club team. They compete with other colleges all around Colorado and even travel to invitationals around the country.
The fall rugby season was able to keep Fabiani-Wyatt in shape for the level of play needed for a D1 football program.
“They’re both real physical sports… so the physicality was there during rugby season and I never got shy of contact.. I think that was helpful… but they are too different sports so it was a little bit of an adjustment coming back to football…” — Fabiani-Wyatt
As the rugby season came to an end, spring football was right around the corner, and Fabiani-Wyatt was ready.
This year the CSU football program took to their social media accounts to announce the walk-on tryout information.
The post generated a lot of buzz around campus and drew in numerous athletes hoping to make the team. It was this instagram post that gave Fabiani-Wyatt the push he needed to tryout for the team.
“I saw the walk on tryouts on the CSU Instagram and I was kind of like you know… maybe I’ll give it a shot.” — Fabiani-Wyatt
He got signed up right away and started prepping for tryouts any way he could. However, he really didn’t know what to expect until he attended the informational meeting.
Fabiani-Wyatt explained that the informational meeting was where the athletes learned what paperwork they would need to provide the school to prove eligibility, along with other logistical details about the tryout.
The tryout process was a one day, one hour event designed to quickly test the prospects’ athletic ability. Fabiani-Wyatt said that the tryout was done in a similar way to the NFL combine. It was a tryout full of 40 yard dashes, three cone drills, and many other agility and skills drills designed to see what they would look like in game-like situations.
“I hadn’t played football since my senior year before coming out to CSU… so I knew I was going to be a little rusty, but I thought I did fairly well in the tryout… so I was hopeful” — Fabiani-Wyatt
After a short wait period, Fabiani-Wyatt found out that he was one of the select few that had officially made the CSU football team. When he learned the news, he told his family first, calling both of the men that got him into football, his grandpa and his dad. The news was met with a quick turn-around where he found himself in Canvas Stadium for spring ball with a mix of emotions.
“I was excited, I was kind of sad because I had to leave my rugby friends, but um… I was excited for the new opportunities… and it was kind of a shock… it didn’t really set in until I was there at the first practice that I was actually playing football for a Division I college.” — Fabiani-Wyatt
His rugby friends were very happy for him and can’t wait to support him on his football journey.
Spring ball gave Fabiani-Wyatt the opportunity to practice three days a week, along with other workouts. He was quickly given all the gear every other football player receives and suited up as number 36. Fabiani-Wyatt has been playing football since the age of five, making it a surreal moment for him when he finally got to put on the CSU football jersey.
With Spring ball coming to an end, Fabiani-Wyatt, along with the other walk-on players will continue to work hard to keep their spots on the team. Fabiani-Wyatt is unsure were his football journey will take him, but he is loving every minute of it.
