As House settlement threatens walk-ons, Terrell Foster wants to ‘grind’ at Georgia

But there also will be unintended consequences of this settlement, in addition to further lawsuits.

With a potential roster limit of 105 athletes in college football, it would lead to the eventual elimination of walk-ons such as Foster.

“We definitely pay attention to it because it affects a lot of walk-ons,” Foster said. “It affects where they’ll be. It affects how they’re playing out their future in relation to football. I think we’re all aware of it, and we’re all just paying attention to see what could happen. For the most part, you’ve just got to take day by day. Do what you can to be where you’re at right now.”

Georgia, like many schools, has a rich walk-on tradition. National championship-winning quarterback Stetson Bennett began his career as a walk-on. Dan Jackson, the hero of Georgia’s win over Georgia Tech last season and a future NFL draft pick, was a walk-on for all six of his years in Athens.

Foster came to Georgia after playing for IMG Academy in high school. The Kennesaw native had offers from Ivy League schools like Yale and Penn and reportedly a scholarship offer from Maryland as well. But he wanted to play for his home-state school and make an impact in what routinely has been Georgia’s most loaded position group.

He played in 12 of Georgia’s 14 games last season, largely standing out on special teams.

“It’s Georgia, you know? You come to Georgia to be a good player, and that’s where I want to be,” Foster said when asked why he remains at Georgia. “There’s a standard right here. If you play to that standard, you better feel ready. You’ll be set.”

Entering his fourth season at Georgia, he’s earned the respect of not just his teammates but Kirby Smart as well.

“Terrell Foster takes snaps, competes, leads, loves Georgia, works his tail off,” Smart said. “Just incredible. I mean, Terrell’s a kid that has earned NIL by the way he works.”

Foster takes advantage of the fact that he’s playing in an age where he can earn compensation through NIL deals. That makes the fact that he’s not on scholarship a little easier to swallow.

The question moving forward, as it pertains not just to Foster but all of those non-scholarship players like him, is whether those not on scholarship will be able to enjoy those benefits much longer.

One of the proposed stipulations of the House settlement is that football rosters will have a max of 105 players. Not all of those have to be on scholarship, with the SEC stating it will continue to have roster limits with 85 scholarship players.

But Georgia’s 2024 team had 131 members on it. While it’s impossible to truly know which players are on scholarship and which aren’t, simple math indicates that Georgia had 46 walk-ons.

Perhaps some walk-ons get converted to full-time status and make up the 105-man roster. That leaves Georgia with only 20 such players to do the dirty work often associated with scout team.

Should the House settlement pass, as it is expected to this week, it would go into effect starting July 1.

That creates obvious uncertainty for not only Foster but also how Smart puts together his roster for next season. Smart believes that Georgia wouldn’t have to get under the 105 roster threshold until the first game against Marshall on Aug. 30.

“I think everybody’s got to take a big pause right now and say, deep breath, because of what’s going on with basketball right now is crazy,” Smart said. “And we don’t know everything that’s going to come out with April 7, which might be April 7, might be the settlement date, where we get a lot more information.

“But everybody’s on pins and needles because we don’t know exactly what’s going to come out of this.”

Consider that tight end Oscar Delp and defensive lineman Jordan Hall both have brothers who are at Georgia as walk-ons. Wide receiver Dillon Bell saw his brother Micah Bell transfer in from Vanderbilt this offseason, with the new Bell likely being a walk-on.

There’s a human cost from this lawsuit that will ripple through the Georgia roster.

Smart gave some very strong statements last week regarding the House settlement and how it will impact college football moving forward. The Georgia coach routinely states that players should be able to earn money for their efforts. It is not new or controversial.

”College sports has been around a long time and given many an opportunity," Smart said. “By all means, I want these kids to make money.”

Those gains come with a heavy price tag. Foster carries the weight of understanding and representing it. He’s not the only one to do so in a Georgia uniform, with running back Cash Jones and long snapper Beau Gardner in line to play key roles for Georgia in 2025.

And Smart strongly believes that without players like them, college football is not the best version of itself.

“You know, like I don’t know if the kids win in this model that we currently have, if they win long term,” Smart said. “Like long term, when we have to cut sports and cut other things, are the kids going to be the winners of this? I don’t know.

“What’s going on right now is not good for anybody.”