Judge's order keeps Arkansas tradition, Burlsworth Trophy alive for now

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Walk-ons have inspired a restaurant chain, movies, and the Bulsworth Trophy given to the nation's best player who started his college football career as a walk-on.

Unfortunately, stories of players who bet on themselves at their preferred universities, passing on scholarships to other schools to pay their own way in hopes of earning a scholarship at a bigger program, is about to become an era lost to the history books. It just won't be as immediate as many thought.

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman has vowed to find a way around whatever rules might exist in the near future to keep the legacy of former walk-on turned third round NFL draft pick Brandon Burlsworth alive within the Razorbacks program. However, he may not have to bend any rules for a bit.

Judge Claudia Wilken, who is overseeing the landmark NIL litigation case that is expected to establish revenue sharing in college athletics, has indirectly joined Pittman in his support of walk-ons in college sports — at least temporarily.

In a an order issued Wednesday, Wilken handed down a demand that the two sides involved in the lawsuit use up to two weeks to figure out a plan to prevent current walk-ons from getting hosed by the outcome of the settlement.

"The Court can approve the settlement agreement only if it is fair, reasonable, and adequate after considering, in relevant part, whether it 'treats class members equitably to each other,'" Wilken wrote. "Because the settlement agreement is not fair and reasonable to a significant number of class members whose roster spots will be or have been taken away because of the immediate implementation of the settlement agreement, the Court cannot approve the settlement agreement in its current form."

Wilken handed down a preliminary ruling that previewed what she expected the final decision would be weeks ago. However, part of that process is to put the information out there and see how both sides conduct themselves with the knowledge of what the presume is going to happen.

Unfortunately for NCAA institutions, they basically walked into a trap of their own making. Rather than wait until the judge's ruling was official and working under full guidance of the parameters set forth as a result, some programs immediately began working on trimming down to projected roster limits by telling walk-ons they were no longer part of the program.

Kenny Dillingham told some ASU walk-ons they won't have a spot if walk-ons aren’t allowed with a 105 cap so they could enter the portal:

"You're just gonna tell a kid in August that he can't play football? And it uses a year of eligibility? That's wrong."@SunDevilSource pic.twitter.com/5QE1I6pXZt
— Jakob Brooks (@Jakobrooks) April 22, 2025

"Objectors have shown that the immediate implementation of the roster limits provisions of the settlement agreement has resulted or will result in harm to a significant number of members of the Injunctive Relief Settlement Class who are on the roster but will be removed from the roster because of the immediate implementation of the settlement agreement; and who were on the roster but removed from the roster in the last several months because of the premature implementation of the settlement agreement."
Judge Wilken

As a result, a ruling that has kept the college athletics world on hold continues to inch closer to the final exams window at the universities with no definite date of implementation. Still, Wilken offered advice that is likely to speed up the process if followed.

"One way of achieving that could be to modify the settlement agreement to ensure that no members of the Injunctive Relief Settlement Class who have or had a roster spot will lose it as a result of immediate implementation of the settlement agreement," Wilken suggested in her order. "Limits could be accomplished gradually by attrition."

If that indeed becomes the case, it makes it possible for the Bulsworth Trophy to stick around for at least another year or two as a legitimate award that considers players from all schools. After that, so long as Pittman is still around at Arkansas, there will likely on be one school with a candidate left on the roster.