CU Football Player Standing Up for Big 12 Walk-Ons in NCAA Case

Camden Dempsey has been a member of the University of Colorado football team for four years as a walk-on player. He plans to return for a fifth year as part of the team as a graduate student next season, but that dream may not be realized if an upcoming court ruling doesn't break right for him — and an estimated 10,000 other college athletes.

On April 7, United States District Court Judge Claudia Wilken will hear arguments on the House v NCAA settlement, brought forth by the NCAA to resolve three court cases lodged by current and former student-athletes alleging the association broke antitrust law by preventing students from being able to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Highlights of the case include back pay for eligible student athletes and students being allowed to enter into revenue-sharing agreements with their colleges starting in the 2025-2026 school year. State lawmakers recently changed Colorado's NIL rules in anticipation of the settlement.

But Dempsey is fighting for a lesser-publicized set of athletes involved in the case: walk-ons. To prevent gigantic rosters, the NCAA proposed cutting down on the number of walk-ons allowed in each sport; he's taken the battle against that public.

Walk-on players do not have athletic scholarships, so the NCAA worries that schools could pack their teams by giving out the allowed number of scholarships (85 for football) and then paying another group of athletes with NIL partnerships who would count as walk-ons, creating rosters where high-level players are hoarded.

Typically, a college football team has a little over 120 players, but the settlement suggests capping the total roster size at 105, putting around 15 football players per team on the chopping block. Estimates find around 2,000 athletes would lose their spots in college football, while similar caps in other Division I sports could result in 10,000 student athlete walk-ons being cut.

Worries over injuries and roster attrition have caused many coaches and athletes to object to the decreased amount of walk-ons. Dempsey believes the meaning of college sports is at risk, too.

“I've seen the power that athletics has to change lives for the better,” he says. “The opportunity that it provides, not only in terms of leadership and brotherhood, but also to really build oneself as a brand and learn how to function in the real world. That's why I've been interested and very outspoken on this case, is because losing that opportunity is something that I think is the antithesis of what should be the focus of college sports right now.”

Though Dempsey agrees students should be able to make money off their NIL, he doesn’t think the complete professionalization of college sports is a positive outcome. Eliminating walk-ons would add to a more sterile dynamic, he says.

In January, Dempsey filed a letter in the lawsuit featuring the signatures of over ninety Big 12 Conference athletes calling for the protection of current walk-ons from being cut because of the proposed roster limits.

“Walk-Ons are the heart of college sports,” Dempsey explained in a post on X. “These limits threaten our ability to compete and contribute, and eliminates our NIL rights. This case will reshape college athletics, and it’s time Walk-Ons had a voice in the conversation. We deserve to be heard.”

Dempsey continued to add signatures and says well over 100 people eventually signed on. He had hoped to speak in the April 7 hearing but didn’t make the list of those asked to testify.

“Walk-Ons who are cut also will face real, concrete, and immediate, financial damages as many walk-ons have worked to arrange NIL deals and create businesses,” Dempsey wrote in his letter. “As of this moment, walk-ons are not represented by counsel in this proceeding, despite being directly affected by the proposed settlement. Together, as representatives of the Big 12, we implore the Court to recognize the vital role walk-ons play not only on the field but also in preserving the integrity and camaraderie of college athletics.”

Dempsey is one of a small handful of athletes who withstood Deion Sanders’s purge of the CU football roster when Sanders took over for the 2023 season. Dempsey, a long snapper, has never played much but became a locker room leader, earning the nickname “the Governor."

Dempsey is about to graduate with a degree in finance and marketing and will get a master’s in real estate next year. He doesn’t need a football scholarship — his parents are lawyers and he earned a prestigious Boettcher scholarship to cover his tuition costs — but being part of the football team as a walk on has still been formative for Dempsey. He doesn’t want to lose out on his final year with the team — and he doesn’t want others in his position to lose out, either.

“Seeing my teammates not know what's going on and seeing athletes across the Big 12, or across the NCAA, not know how to handle this era and not know what's coming down the line and not hearing anyone speak up for them piqued my interest,” Dempsey says. “I wanted to do something to try and change that.”

He saw a University of Michigan football player submit a similar letter and thought he could leverage his leadership position to rally other Big 12 athletes to submit a letter to stand up and publicize the number of people who could be impacted. Dempsey says the goal wasn’t to call out the Big 12, specifically, but to advocate for others in his position.

According to Dempsey, the number-one response when he reached out to fellow Big 12 walk-ons through a group chat of other athletes he’d connected with over the years was that they didn’t even realize they were in jeopardy. Once they knew, most were glad to add their names to the list, he says.

“Everyone was like, ‘wow, we're going to send this out to our teammates and figure out how to raise some noise around this,’” Dempsey says. “For walk-ons, their voices aren't being heard, and for the scholarship players, they want their walk-ons on the team, as well.”

Some walk-on athletes also eventually earn scholarships, which can be life-changing (and makes for some emotional videos). Charlie Offerdahl, a CU starter for the 2024 season, is one of those examples, Dempsey says. Offerdahl was a walk-on for two years before earning a scholarship for the 2024 season.

“You've got a story of a Colorado native who goes out there and plays his heart and soul out and earns a spot on the team,” Dempsey says. “That is the dream story of college sports. That's why people show up to 5 a.m. tailgates for a 10 o'clock game on a Saturday. Losing that story would be devastating for college sports.”

Dempsey says he loves Offerdahl to death and knows the team wouldn’t be the same without him. That’s the case for walk-ons who haven’t been given scholarships, too, he adds.

On April 7, the fate of walk-ons will be decided as part of the broader settlement. Dempsey believes those who are already committed to their schools should have a chance to stay there.

CU did not comment, as the school is a party in the case.