From walk-on to scholarship, Mizzou remains inclusive

When receiver Eric Laurent found out that Barry Odom put him on scholarship for his final year at Missouri, he thought he was in trouble.

He had skipped class that day, after all.

But after he found out the impetus for that meeting, his tune changed when he told his roommate, Michael Scherer.

"Hey, I'm a scholarship player," Scherer remembers Laurent saying. "It's alright if I skip class."

It's a bit of levity in a great story of hard work and dedication, that's been written about by every outlet that covers Mizzou. But Laurent's joke -- again, a completely lighthearted and innocent comment -- has a bit of truth to it.

A year ago, Gary Pinkel said that walk-ons are held to a different standard than scholarship players. Laurent said he was well aware of the difference before going on scholarship this past winter, and he understood the philosophy behind it.

"The coaching staff has money, and the university has money invested into their players," Laurent said. "As a walk-on, you don't have anything truly invested in you. You're more on a tighter leash. You can't make as many mistakes, because it's just like that (snap) they can take it away from you, especially because you're not under any sort of contract, if that makes sense.

"Legally, academically, we're on a tighter leash."

Missouri, like most schools, has a history of walk-ons earning scholarships. There are the walk-ons turned stars, like Tommy Saunders, Jeff Wolfert, Colin Brown, Grant Ressel. However, those players all went on scholarship before their final year in school. By being on scholarship for multiple years (and by being top performers for their teams) they had more invested in them than other former walk-ons.

But there are more under-the-radar walk-ons who earned scholarships, a similar situation to that of Laurent. Guys like Tyler Hunt and Stephen Carberry.

Carberry, an offensive lineman at Missouri, earned a scholarship before his redshirt senior year in 2014. Now he is the athletics academic coordinator for Lindenwood University in St. Louis.

Like Laurent, he agreed with the fact that walk-ons are held on a tighter leash than scholarship players. But, beyond that, Carberry said the only difference between a scholarship player and a walk-on at Mizzou was the money.

"Being a walk-on, there's certain things you find yourself yearning for a lot," Carberry said. "I lived with Taylor Chappell, a scholarship guy, and Christian Brinser, another walk-on that earned a scholarship. We were close friends with other guys who at the start of every month, would go and pick up their scholarship checks.

"Must be nice."

"Financially is obviously the biggest," Laurent said. "It's the biggest benefit. Financially it's great, but with the new rules as far as food and stuff, it really hasn't changed much. Academics or in the dining hall, weight room, with the coaches, nothing's really changed in that aspect, just because academics, they work so hard for every player on the team, regardless if you're a walk on or on scholarship. They helped me when I was a walk-on, setting up with classes, and they helped me when I was on scholarship, so there's no major difference there."

Carberry said that inclusive treatment between scholarship players and walk-ons isn't the same every where.

"Mizzou just did a phenomenal job," Carberry said. "Everyone was in it together. I remember Coach Pinkel would tell us, before he got there, walk-ons would change in a different locker room. But if you're there, you get the same stuff. You push through it together.

"Coming in, you see all the movies, you hear all the horror stories. I had heard from other guys that played at other schools, what their walk-ons had to go through. At Mizzou, unless you saw the checks, you literally had no idea who was a walk-on."

Laurent's seen a coaching change even before he was put on scholarship. The inclusive nature of Missouri's program, however, is something that hasn't changed.

"Coming in freshman year, everything, all freshmen, you're set up with a big brother," Laurent said. "My big brother was Tyler Hunt, a former walk-on turned scholarship. They set you up with a person is going to be in your same sort of situation, to walk you through, guide you though the ups and downs of what college has in store for you.

"People here are accepting regardless. They don't really see scholarship. We're a family. You're a member of a team."