Arizona State walk-ons: The inside story of life on the bench - and so much more (2024)

It’s not a stretch to say that Arizona State walk-on guard Grant Fogerty has been a Sun Devil his entire life.

In fact, evidence of Fogerty’s fandom can be traced to his earliest memories. His father, Glen, would regularly drive him and his older brother, Jackson, up to campus to watch men’s basketball games at Wells Fargo Arena. Glen admitted that it was one of the better perks of being employed by the university.

And although childhood memories are often clouded, Grant remembers those days clearly.

“I have a picture of me and my brother on the court when we were really young,” he said. “I remember the James Harden era, of course. I went to all those games. Waited before every game for autographs and everything like that.”

Basketball had always been a staple in the Fogerty household. Grant, who idolized Steve Nash, grew up playing in youth leagues with Jackson at the Boys & Girls Club.

By the end of Fogerty’s sophom*ore year at Desert Mountain High, he had already earned his first varsity letter. In time, he was elevated to team captain. Fogerty was also a valued piece for Powerhouse Hoops on the grassroots circuit, a program that has produced the likes of Marquette’s Markus Howard and Kansas’Mitch Lightfoot.

Fogerty was solid, but at 6-foot and 175 pounds, he didn’t exactly “wow” Division I scouts. Fogerty, though, had no plans of being forced into an early retirement post-graduation.

At that point, the household became somewhat divided. Though Jackson grew up an ASU fan, he wanted to escape the Valley for college, choosing to attend the University of Arizona in Tucson and quickly adopting a Wildcat mentality, according to his father. When the time came for Grant to make his college decision two years later, he, too, contemplated whether he should remain dedicated to his hometown roots.

With no D-I offers and moderate D-II and D-III interest, Fogerty found himself at a crossroads. He could continue to explore his small school interest and, potentially, move uncomfortably far from home. Or, he could stay local and try to walk on at ASU, a program that better aligned with his goals.

He saw ASU as a chance to extend his basketball career and also recognized the academic opportunity.

Professionally, Fogerty envisioned a future working in higher education just like his father. He even thought about life as an athletic director at a major college somewhere. But he will always have a profound affection for the game of basketball and entertains the idea of one day returning to the sidelines to coach.Logically, if Fogerty did decide to focus on the coaching, few would make a better teacher than Duke legend Bobby Hurley.

“For Grant, he has the ability to get into that Mike Krzyzewski coaching tree, and to watch and learn from a basketball great,” Glen Fogerty said.

The idea was enticing to both.

“Like I said, I always wanted to be a Sun Devil,” Fogerty said. “So with Coach Hurley coming in, I was really excited about the idea of joining the program because I knew he’d bring in a new kind of era and a different way of playing. That’s something I wanted to be a part of.”

However, Fogerty learned that infiltrating a Pac-12 basketball program was no easy task.

How bad do you want it?

For overlooked high school basketball prospects in the Valley, being contacted by Sun Devils assistant basketball coachRashon Burno regarding a walk-on opportunity is equivalent to Avenger-level vigilantes returning home to find Nick Fury lurking in their living room.

Marvel movie fans know that when Fury makes contact, a life-changing opportunity will likely follow. But Fogerty couldn’t count on a Hollywood-like encounter. He knew the opportunity wouldn’t just show up on his doorstep. Fogerty had to be persistent, and prove how strongly he wanted it.

Fogerty’s grassroots coach was the first to put him in contact with Burno. In May of his senior year of high school, Fogerty was called up to ASU’s campus to visit with Burno in person.

A dialogue between the two continued throughout that summer. Fogerty was accepted into ASU, and that following September, Burno invited him to come try out for the team.

“Tryouts weren’t too bad,” Fogerty said. “There were about 15 guys that year, I think that was the only time we’ve done tryouts during my three years here.Coach Burno talked to me after and told me I was going to be a part of the squad, and it was a pretty special moment.”

Fogerty made the team but, as a walk-on player, his hard work had just begun. He had to adapt to Hurley’s expectations and learn how to operate within his new role.

“Walk-ons are usually the guys that are first in sprints, running, just doing the little things all around,” said Fogerty, who still had to prove he belonged.

Luckily, though, Fogerty wasn’t alone during this transition. Junior walk-onAustin Witherill was more than willing to show him the ropes.

“Austin taught me to show up every day, work hard and just do whatever the team needs,” Fogerty said. “You’re not in every drill, you’re not in every practice, and you obviously don’t play in the games that much, but you have to be one of the hardest workers. You’re dedicated to the team and you encourage everybody no matter what. I learned that being a good teammate is what it’s all about.”

Passing the torch

Fast forward to 2019, and Fogerty finds himself as the upperclassman playing the role of mentor to sophom*ore walk-ons Jack Roggin,Jordan Salzman and Trevor Thompson, and freshman Kyle Feit.

Through basketball, Fogerty and Roggin have built quite a friendship the past two years.

“Austin took Grant under his wing, Grant took me under his wing, so we all kind of did it together,” Roggin said. “We’ve been boys ever since. It’s been a great friendship, we’re living together next year, it’s pretty cool. That’s my boy.”

In most programs, walk-ons share a special bond because they experience similar things. Including, for the most part, their journey to the D-I level.

In Fogerty’s words: “We’re walk-ons, we’re not on scholarship, we kind of do the same things in practice. We know each other’s struggles, and that makes them some of my closest friends on the team. I’m friends with everyone on the team, but the walk-ons, those are my closest friends.”

Feit, a preferred walk-on out of IMG Academy, benefited from Fogerty’s guidance. Despite suffering a stress fracture in his left foot in late November, Feit’s ASU career has gotten off to a promising start both academically and on the practice court.

“I try to stay focused,” Feit said. “When I’m not at the gym putting in extra work and when we’re not at practice, then I’ll be at study hall with my tutor trying to handle my business in the classroom. I don’t really go out, I’m trying to get to where I want to be at. I want to play at the next level, so I’m just trying to work for that.”

Fogerty made sure Feit was well aware of his walk-on responsibilities.

“We have to be on our stuff,” Feit said. “We have to make sure we know all the plays, we have to make sure we push ourselves as well as the scholarship players. Just elevate practice, because essentially our game is practice. We have to treat it like a game. We have to be mentally prepared and make sure we’re on top of what we have to do. Coach Hurley sets a standard, and it’s a high standard, so we have to really focus on meeting that standard.”

Rare opportunity

In practice, running the scout team gives walk-on players an opportunity to shine.

Coaches give walk-on players offensive and defensive concepts from opposing teams to prepare rotation players for the matchup ahead. It’s essentially an imitation game, and typically, walk-ons have to emulate the game of a specific opposing player.

“You get to just show out and we don’t have to focus as much on the team-oriented stuff,” Salzman said. “We just get to go a little ‘iso’ individual, and I enjoy that, especially because that’s how I used to play in high school. That’s how I have fun at practice.”

The ASU coaching staff usually rotates who’s responsible for prepping the scout team for practice, but Fogerty says that Burno is the coach who works with them the most.

“He fires us up,” Fogerty said. “He wants us to go hard, go at the scholarship guys and give them our best shot and make sure we execute the other team’s plays so we give the first team the best possible look.”

“I love them,” Burno said. “Those guys are servers, because their position is a thankless position. They don’t get a lot of credit for the time that they give to the team, they get the least amount of fanfare because they’re walk-ons. But they’re committed, so I take their roles very seriously. We got a great group of guys who are about the right stuff, who want to help these guys prepare for the games.

“I think the walk-ons have a tremendous amount of responsibility, and they do a tremendous job with it and it starts with Grant. Grant is a great kid. I’m happy for him. He’s been here for three years and he’s been good for us: low maintenance, great in school, knows the offense and he knows what the expectations are. That’s all you can ask for in a walk-on.”

During scout-team practices, Burno says that each walk-on has impressed him in different spots.

“Whether it’s Grant with his understanding of being a point guard and moving the ball and acting as the point guard for the opposing team, Jordan beating the press, Trevor shooting the ball, Jack shooting the ball, and Kyle, who got hurt this year, being able to be an all-around player,” Burno said.

The formula is simple: If ASU’s walk-ons take care of business at practice, then Hurley may be more inclined to give them an opportunity to play at the end of a game. Or, if they earn it, meaningful minutes.

The payoff

For a walk-on player, game days make all the struggles worthwhile.

“They never get old, never,” Fogerty said. “It’s always fun being on the bench and cheering my guys on. It’s a great feeling every night walking out of the tunnel, warmups and everything. It’s always an amazing experience.”

Fogerty has played in multiple games over his three years at ASU, but until this season, he had never scored. Fogerty recorded an assist in the past, but the junior thought that he may go his entire college career without a bucket. However, that changed when he and his fellow walk-ons got the opportunity to play at the end of the Stanford game on Jan. 12.

With under a minute left in the game, Fogerty drove baseline into the heart of the Stanford defense and finished a layup through a pair of defenders. His first points as a Sun Devil came in a losing effort, but the experience was certainly memorable.

“I wish we would’ve got the win, but it’s cool to get that on the books,” Fogerty said.

However, Fogerty’s favorite moments since joining the team have come in games where he never played.

“Definitely these last two years beating Kansas has been the best moment for me,” Fogerty said. “Last year we beat them at Allen Fieldhouse, which is cool because it’s just a legendary arena. And then this year, they’re No. 1 in the country, and we get to beat them and storm the court and everything. That’s a pretty cool experience.”

Then there are walk-ons such as Thompson, who simply enjoy the experience of traveling with the team to new places.

ASU walk-ons rotate who travels for road games, and it was Thompson’s turn most recently when the Sun Devils played at Cal and Stanford.

“It was actually funny when we got off the plane, because I told Coach Burno that I hadn’t been on a plane in years,” Thompson said. “I was the only one that was kind of like, not really knowing what to do through airport security, TSA and everything. They were kind of teasing me, Burno and a few of the other coaches, but it was a great experience traveling the West Coast and staying in nice hotels and things like that. I’m not really used to stuff like that, so when I do get my chance, I’m always thankful.”

And then there’s the biggest payoff of all: the opportunity to be a part of an NCAA Tournament team, and the celebration that comes with it.

“When we were watching the selection show at Coach Hurley’s house, it was my first year last year so I’d never been a part of anything like that,” Thompson said. “Every time we go to his house, I’m always just starstruck anyway because he has all of his college and NBA pictures, and pictures of him with Michael Jordan at the Olympic team.

“Going to his house is always a great experience but on selection Sunday, it was just a culmination of what our team and coaches had been through. You could really see how much everyone appreciated the opportunity to play in the tournament. That was our main goal, so seeing them break down and get emotional, that will easily sit with me for the rest of my life. Us jumping in the pool and everything, that’s easily the best memory I have.”

Truth is, the walk-on life isn’t for everyone. It includes a massive amount of work that results in little to no recognition. But for athletes such as Fogerty, who don’t need to live in the spotlight to feel valued, having patience, character and a relentless work ethic will create valuable opportunities.

Earning the respect of a prominent basketball figure is pretty cool, too.

“They’re undervalued, they’re underappreciated, they’re not on scholarship and they work hard every day,” Hurley said. “Our guys are good kids and good students. They picked me up in the last 1:30 against Stanford, and it was the best basketball we played that whole game.”

(Top photo of bench celebrating during a December matchup with Nevada: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)