Most universities have preferred walk on, but they are usually from the schools home region and state, but not from 1820 miles away.

UMass picked up a preferred walk on from Texas.

Quote:“The coaches at UMass have given me an opportunity to play at the highest level,” Loane said. “When I visited the campus a few weeks ago I felt a sense of unity and family. It felt like they truly cared about me and wanted to better me as a player as well as a student. I didn't feel that from most Texas schools.”

[Zarchary] Loane’s unofficial visit on January 28th coincided with the Minutemen’s final official visit weekend of the 2017 cycle, but because he was offered as a preferred walk-on, that meant he and his family had to foot the bill for the trip from the Houston suburb to the 413. But despite the expense, Loane knew he had to see what UMass had to offer.

“[The visit to Amherst] was great,” Loane said. “It’s a nice town, different coming from where I live obviously, but very cool. They hold their school to extremely high standard, not only for academics but sports as well. They seem to challenge the students and that's what I loved most. That they want to challenge you and make you better.”
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Loane didn’t have a great deal of interest from FBS schools, no scholarship offers and only a PWO offer from Louisiana Tech outside of UMass. He had an offer to walk on at Texas, but it was not a preferred spot. Despite that, he remained committed to playing at the highest level, and UMass’ interest in him as a PWO came in response to him sending his film out.
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Walk ons are always players you want to root for, great stories of good kids working their tails off to earn a scholarship and a chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage. UMass put nine walk ons on scholarship over the past year, and they have had some success with non-scholarship players in the past as well, like Joe Colton.

http://umass.247sports.com/Article/Texas...s-51398023