Miami is scouring its campus looking for offensive linemen.
Earlier this week, fliers appeared around campus asking "any student that is at least 6'1 and 230+ pounds" to contact the team about trying out to become an offensive lineman.
Yep, Miami football has come to this.
Most programs hold some sort of walk-on tryout to allow guys who maybe played in high school and didn't get recruited a chance to relive their gridiron glory. Kansas was very public about its tryouts earlier this spring. And LSU's walk-on tryouts were the talk of the country because of female placekicker Mo Isom.
Sure, most programs don't go putting fliers up in the student wellness center looking for players — let alone offensive linemen — but if the team has a need, it should do whatever it has to do.
Miami coach Al Golden actually responded to some criticism he received over the fliers this week.
"I think it's laughable that people are making a big deal about that," Golden said. "Every football program in the country looks for walk-ons from the student body. The hope is that you find one or two that help us. It's an easy target, and people want to make fun of it, that's fine."
To be clear, he's not looking for starters (unless he happens to get lucky). He's looking for practice bodies, scout team guys. Guys to fill out the third and fourth teams. And while looking specifically for offensive linemen might raise some eyebrows, it's not much different from a team targeting skill positions. Offensive linemen are probably just a little more difficult to find.
"I'm not a politician," Golden continued. "I'm not really looking for public approval. We're trying to find people in the student body that can help us."
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