40 of KSU's 115 players on the roster are walk-ons, or over 33%.
That is insane. And a complete failure from a recruiting standpoint.
I agree with this to a point, but I think it makes a difference as to what you prioritize in your system.
Do you value consistency of execution, experience, athleticism, etc.? It's pretty clear that we value consistency and experience. That has it's advantages; we're pretty much a bowl team every year, regardless of the talent on the roster. Of course, the downside is that our ceiling, more often than not, is going to be limited to 8-9 wins. 10 if the ball bounces right.
I mean would Duke Shelly be better than Morgan Burns? No idea. But we're not going to start him over a senior that's logged so much playing time already. I mean it was clear that we needed to play Silmon more, and it took way to long to make that change.
I think we're recruiting alright, but that's just my opinion. I think the problem is that we're not playing the talent that we've recruited. We are playing a lot more underclassmen, which is a step in the right direction, but these coaches seem to be way more inclined to go with guys they're comfortable with as opposed to the better athletes that are on the roster.
Maybe that's because we make things too difficult, or maybe it's because we base everything on practice effort/execution. No idea. But if Snyder is so sold on these 16 goals, just knowing how into organizational change management he is, it wouldn't surprise me at all if puts a ton of emphasis on that, and that's why we see so many walk-ons. If they exhibit the 16 goals, they'll play.
