When Johannes Egbers took off his shoulder pads after his last game at Clinton High School, he didn’t think he would ever play football at a competitive level again. He was just over 200 pounds and admits he wasn’t the fastest kid, giving him reason to believe his chances of playing college football were slim.

He had the recruiting letters from Northern Iowa and Truman State, but he didn’t want to go there. He had his mind set on Iowa State and its engineering program.

“When I played my last high school game, I thought I was done playing football,” Egbers said. “I just thought ‘man, I can’t believe I’m taking off my pads.'”

But Egbers’ high school coach, Scott Mahmens, told him he had football in his future. Mahmens told him he would call the football coaches at Iowa State. By January of his senior year, after Mahmens’ encouragement, Egbers was ready to give it his best shot.

He worked on bulking up and made it to 240 pounds by graduation. After seeing video of Egbers in action, ISU administrative assistant Mike Woodley told him to try out for the team. After going through a series of tests measuring his stamina, Egbers was told he had made the team. “I thought it was pretty sweet,” Egbers said. “I thought I was big time. I’m at Iowa State. It felt really good to be a part of it.”

Today, Egbers plays on the field goal unit and is a reserve tackle behind Casey Shelton. He is one of 12 players who came to Iowa State as a walk-on and now is listed on the two-deep roster. And not just players, good players.

Lane Danielsen, the Cyclones’ leading receiver and an all-Big 12 performer, walked on to the program in 1999. So did Jack Whitver, who is second on the team in receiving yardage with 442 yards on 31 catches.

Place kicker Adam Benike, who has connected on 47 of his 52 kicks this season, walked on to the team after transferring from Rochester Community & Technical College and is currently not a scholarship player.

Another player who has made his mark for Iowa State nearly slipped through the cracks in 1999. NCAA rules permit 105 players on the roster going into two-a-days and, in that same year, a guy named Jordan Carstens was No. 105.

Carstens has now established himself as an all-Big 12 performer as well and is co-captain on this year’s squad. He’s third on the team in tackles, with 68 from his defensive tackle position.

“We have walking examples that it can be done, you can defy the odds, you can go against what everybody says and you can live out your dream at Iowa State as a walk-on,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “We have stars all over the place that came here without scholarships — not just starters, not just guys, big-time Big 12 football players.”

“That’s the best recruiting tool that we have for walk-ons are the guys that are playing right now and playing really good football,” McCarney said.

Danielsen, Whitver and Carstens have all earned scholarships, but as a redshirt freshman, Egbers still pays his way through Iowa State. He said it’s hard sometimes, especially with all the time that must be put towards football.

“You’ve got to have amazing dedication, commitment and passion to come in here,” McCarney said. “On scholarship is one thing. Without a scholarship, the odds are stacked against you, and to come in and do it is unbelievable.”

Whitver said a group of prospects from Iowa come in every year and, as a former walk-on himself, he likes to talk to them and tell them they have the chance to play football at Iowa State.

“A lot of them aren’t going to get scholarships … but a lot of them do have the potential to walk on,” Whitver said. “So that’s something I like to do is talk to those kids and encourage them.”

Egbers got the encouragement he needed from Mahmens and won’t soon forget the day he played in his first game. His first action on game day came on a field goal attempt during the second game of the season against Kansas.