By definition, a volunteer willingly offers his unpaid services to a higher command. Imagine what it is like to be considered a walk-on Volunteer for the Tennessee football team. That is exactly what freshman Tyler Wills is.

Scholarship athletes have the advantage of having their tuition covered. Walk-on athletes pay their own way and still have the requirements of participating in workouts and practice. 

The idea of a walk-on earning playing time is usually deemed laughable. And some walk-ons do not get the luxury of dressing out on Saturdays.

[The game] is a whole lot faster than what I expected. Tyler Wills, freshman football player "It's frustrating (not dressing out)," Wills said. "Because I feel like I'm on the team, but it's different than being there on game days. I'm in the stands and just sitting there. It's just different."

Tyler Wills was a three year starter for Morristown East High School as a defensive back. His senior year he had 60 tackles to go with 7 interceptions. This solid campaign earned Wills a spot on the all-conference team and first team in the Knoxville News Sentinel's All-PrepXtra team.

Stats and careers that are great in high school don't often amount to heavy college recruitment. Wills was considered by schools like Tusculum College and Emory & Henry. But the big schools were not calling. So why did Wills choose to be a walk-on at Tennessee?

"It's close to home and it's more of a challenge than smaller schools," he explained.

The opportunity to be a wanted player at a small school is like the old adage of being a big fish in a small pond. However, some people may take the challenge to work as hard as they can to be noticed as the small fish in the big pond, or in Wills' case, the walk-on corner at UT.

"[The game] is a whole lot faster than what I expected," he said. "I expected it to be fast, but not this fast. It's just so much faster than high school."

Wills was one of 15 total walk-ons to make the cut this year. He was one of five freshmen that were a part of the 15. Even the lower echelon is a select group of individuals.

Wills, a cornerback, said the best part of his experience is getting to practice and workout with somebody like Eric Berry. 

"He's really good," Wills said. "He works hard, and I'm learning from him so far."

Learning from the experienced players and the film room can pay dividends for walk-ons. Tennessee's Nick Reveiz, who was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury against Ohio, entered this season as the starting middle linebacker after walking-on at Tennessee.

When you're at the bottom of the totem pole, the only way you can go is up.