Cal coach Justin Wilcox worries about the future of the Walk-On program

Even as the Cal football team kicked off its fall 2024 training camp on Wednesday, coach Justin Wilcox took a moment to discuss issues that will impact the Bears — and college sports as a whole — this time next year.

Proposed Settlement in Three Antitrust Lawsuits Against NCAA was released last week and represents a drastic change in the landscape of college sports.

If a judge approves the settlement next March, the NCAA will have to distribute $2.78 billion starting next year to athletes who played NCAA sports since 2016.

NCAA universities will also be allowed to pay their current athletes across all sports an annual amount of $23.1 million, effectively making them full-fledged professionals.

And in a move to prevent the wealthiest schools from hoarding talent, FBS football rosters will be limited to 105 players, all of whom will be eligible for scholarships. There is currently no roster limit in the FBS, but teams can only have 85 scholarship players.

It’s the last of these three topics that interests Wilcox the most, because he and others see it as a potential threat to part-time programs.

“I’m worried that guys who have had opportunities in the past will have maybe fewer opportunities,” Wilcox said. “Guys could still go, but the numbers will be smaller.”

The Bears currently have 119 players on their roster, 34 of whom are reserves. “We’ve had great success with the reserves here,” Wilcox said. “We’ll see how it all works out.”

Defensive end Ashtyn Davis and wide receiver Patrick Laird are examples of recent Cal players who ultimately received scholarships before heading to the NFL.