They Might Walk On, but They'll Undoubtedly Sit Jeff Swensen for The New York Times More than 70 students try out every August for the West Virginia University football team. Of those, about five are invited back. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Ronald Swaniger was not alone in his dream of playing football for West Virginia. That became apparent from his position last week in the middle of a slow-moving, single-file line that stretched for 40 yards. Ryan Dorchester, right, is the team's coordinator of recruiting operations. His job is to identify a handful of players who could help round out West Virginia's scout team. It was a cloudless afternoon at Mountaineer Field, and when Swaniger finally reached the front of the line, Ryan Dorchester, the team's coordinator of recruiting operations, flatly asked him what position he played. Swaniger, a sophomore from Pentress, W.Va., was ready with his answer. "Anything you need," he said. Dorchester, who held his pen over a clipboard, stared at him. "Running back," Swaniger said. At West Virginia, where walk-on tryouts are an annual tradition, the latest iteration featured 83 hopefuls who had the chance to wear team-issue practice jerseys and showcase their skills - or at least their unfettered desire - inside the university's 60,000-seat stadium. The primary purpose was far more practical: an opportunity for the coaching staff to identify a handful of players who could help round out West Virginia's scout team, a group that would serve the vital but unheralded role of impersonating the opponent at practice each week. "We're just trying to find bodies," Dorchester said. You hate to say that, but it's true. We need guys that we can throw out there and beat on. The odds of any of these players playing a single down for the Mountaineers were beyond remote. More than 70 students try out every August, Dorchester said. Of those, about five are invited back as glorified practice dummies. The retention rate from season to season is low. The demands are high, and the rewards are few. West Virginia, which opens its season Saturday against William & Mary, keeps about 30 nonscholarship players on its roster, but most are known in football parlance as "preferred" walk-ons - players who were identified or even recruited by the coaching staff before they opted to enroll. Last week's tryouts were something different altogether. Dorchester, who has been with the program for nine seasons, could recall three players who had conquered the tryout process and survived scout-team duty long enough to appear on the field in an actual game. That works out to one player for every 210 who tried out. Dorchester cited Cecil Level as the exceedingly rare success story: a walk-on defensive back who went from the scout team to special teams to a scholarship. Last season, as a senior, Level started three games, but even then, his role had more to do with circumstance than merit. West Virginia, depleted by injuries, was 7-6. In his own way, Dorchester traveled a similar path. As a student at West Virginia, he did not harbor any fantasies about playing football at the Division I level - "or any other level," he said. But he loved the game and channeled his passion into a job as an equipment room manager. After earning his degree, Dorchester was working in a computer lab on campus when he was hired as a graduate assistant. He spent the next three years in the position before he became the program's recruiting coordinator last season. He said he enjoyed working for Coach Dana Holgorsen. "He doesn't micromanage at all," Dorchester said. If you have a job, do it. The approach to last week's tryouts was similarly no-nonsense. Before the attendees were allowed to set foot on the field, they had to meet a handful of requirements, including providing proof that they were insured, were full-time students and had undergone a physical exam in the last six months. For some, the bar was too high. Lionel Marshall, a cornerback from Minisink, N.Y., discovered that he had missed the cutoff for a physical by a month. "I've been training so hard for this," Marshall said as he slumped against one of the stadium walls, adding that he planned to return next year. I'm going to come back with a vengeance. One player told Dorchester that he was a wide receiver, but that he also played linebacker. Perhaps he thought he was doubling his odds. "It doesn't really matter," Dorchester said as he wrote the player's name on his clipboard.