Phi Gamma Delta, Theta Chapter

Walk-on defensive back Will Lowery runs through a drill while Alabama assistant coach Jeremy Pruitt looks on. Pruitt coached Lowery at Hoover High School. (The Birmingham News / Mark Almond)

TUSCALOOSA -- On this day two years ago, Will Lowery experienced his first day of college football. He was a little lost. He was a little little.

His former position coach at Hoover High School, Jeremy Pruitt, was in his second year at Alabama as the director of player development, and he had talked Lowery into joining the football team as a walk-on.

"It was intimidating," Lowery recalled. "I remember coach Pruitt told me to just come up to the football complex and get my physical done. I didn't even know where the complex was.

"I remember my first day here when I was walking in, one of the guys on the team, Alex Watkins, looked at me and asked what sport I played. He was so surprised when I said football, because I'm so much smaller than everybody."

Most of the football team already had been practicing for nearly two weeks. But on the first day of class -- which this year is today -- the 105-man roster expands when another 15 to 20 walk-ons join the walk-ons already are there along with 85 scholarship players.

The 5-foot-9, 188-pound Lowery recalls his initiation well.

"It was pretty intense," he said. "I remember they told us we were going to be in helmets and shorts, and then, just out of the blue, Tank (Conerly), our equipment guy, said we were going full pads. It was go time. ... We strapped it up, but we didn't do too much.

"I didn't know exactly how I would stack up, but I didn't feel out of my league."

Two years later, Lowery has written a success story that could inspire walk-ons who join the team today. He played with the first-team defense in the A-Day game. He's in the running to start at free safety this fall, and if he doesn't win that job, he still could play often when Alabama uses five or six defensive backs.

"Will Lowery is obviously a guy that is going to be a contributor to our team in some way this year," Alabama coach Nick Saban said Tuesday. "It could be a fairly significant role. He's been with the program for a couple of years and has learned a lot and developed nicely as a player."

Lowery sensed an opportunity to contribute beyond the scout team last spring. Seven of the Crimson Tide's top eight defensive backs from 2009 moved on.

"I knew we were going to be on the field whether they wanted us to be or not," Lowery said.

Playing for the first-team defense, Will Lowery stops star running back Mark Ingram (22) during 2010 Alabama's A-Day Game. (The Birmingham News / Mark Almond)

But an A-Day starter, next to star strong safety Mark Barron?

"I guess if you'd have told me my freshman year that I'd be on the first-team defense on A-Day, I would've probably laughed or have been a little caught off guard or confused," Lowery said.

Coming out of Hoover's powerhouse, Lowery had NCAA Division I scholarship offers from Air Force and Navy. He considered Elon and Birmingham-Southern, but he passed on them all.

"I always wanted to come to Alabama," Lowery said, and he was ready to give up football until late in his senior year, when he listened to Pruitt.

Other walk-ons have similar stories.

'I JUST LOVE THE GAME'

Hardie Buck gave up football. The walk-on wide receiver is an Alabama senior academically, but he's a sophomore athletically. Two years after graduating from Vestavia Hills High, where he played wide receiver on a ground-oriented team, Buck got the urge to resume his football career and walked on a year ago.

Hardie Buck

"I just love the game," Buck said. "It's a game where you can actually hit somebody, and it's legal. You can take out your frustration on people. You've got to love the contact. It's fun."

But a student can't just walk on to the Alabama team unannounced.

"I had to get some film and letters of recommendation from my high school coaches," Buck said. "I just tried not to take 'no' for an answer.

"It's a numbers game. They weren't sure originally if they could use me. They already had so many people. Thankfully, it worked out where I could stay around."

Buck didn't make the original 105-man roster last season, but he was added to it after a few days. Those first few days of practice were memorable.

"I was blown away," Buck said. "The speed, the strength, the quickness. They really know the game well. I can't be intimidated by that. You won't stick around if you're just down on yourself."

Buck knows his shortcomings. He stands 5-9, weighs 184 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash somewhere in the 4.7- to 4.8-second range.

"I never will run a 4.4, but I need to do the things right that I can control," he said. "I rely on my quickness. If you know the plays and can read the defense, you can find the open spot, run precise routes, there's ways around just running a 4.4. My goal is just to bring it every day, everything I've got."

He took pride in his role as a scout-team receiver last year, and he treasures his national championship ring.

This season, Saban said, Buck "might have a chance to contribute on special teams."

SIZING UP THE CHALLENGE

On a team loaded with five-star recruits, Lowery accepts reality.

"I'm definitely the smallest and the slowest out of our secondary," he said. "Mark Barron and Dre (Kirkpatrick) and B.J. (Scott), those guys are phenomenal athletes, just the best athletes in the country. I know that I'm not ever going to be able to keep up in a straight race with those guys or bench as much as they do in the weight room.

"Even in high school, I wasn't gifted size-wise. I always knew that to play, I had to know what I was doing. You have to play fast, and you have to play fearless, and you have to play hard."

Above all, it pays to be a student of the game. Playing for Pruitt at Hoover didn't hurt. Pruitt now coaches the Crimson Tide's secondary, primarily the safeties. The fact that Hoover's program is advanced helped, too. But Lowery took note of something that former Hoover star and ex-Alabama linebacker Cory Reamer once said.

"He said he knew he would play only if he learned the defense, because they had so many athletes coming in," Lowery said. "He said he treated it like another class and studied. I took those words and used them just like he did. I try to know things like the back of my hand to where I can process things on the field faster."

The irony is that Lowery shares his knowledge with young teammates who could then steal his playing time. So be it, he said.

When he was on the scout team, "it was my job to help make the guys who play on Saturdays better," Lowery said. Now, he added, "it takes a lot of people to make a defense work, so I just try to help the team the best way I can."

THE BIG PICTURE

Hollywood glorified walk-ons with the movie "Rudy," a true story about an obscure Notre Dame player.

"It's one of my favorite movies," Buck said. "I get chills every time I watch it."

But Alabama walk-ons don't have to look so far for an example. Rashad Johnson walked on in 2004 and became an All-America safety in 2008. He now plays for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.

"It's definitely encouraging to see that a walk-on can do big things and go big places," Lowery said.

There's one more good example for walk-ons at Alabama.

"You know, I was a walk-on for a little while and earned a scholarship," said Saban, who was a defensive back at Kent State. "So I have a lot of compassion for guys who really want to play, who love the game, who are willing to go out every day and try to get themselves better to see if they have an opportunity to contribute to the team some day, but also are willing to give of themselves to help the other guys on the team by helping them prepare by being a part of the scout team."