Guard Brenden Glapion realizes ‘dream’ at Cal
On the afternoon of Jan. 16, between video study and practice, Cuonzo Martin summoned walk-on guard Brenden Glapion to the front of Haas Pavilion’s Heng Family Theater.
After asking Glapion a handful of questions to build suspense, Cal’s head coach told his team, “He’s done some great things, and we’re here to present him with a scholarship.”
Players rose from their seats, wrapped Glapion in a collective embrace and called for a speech.
[...] the senior who had spent more than half a decade trying to land a full-ride scholarship wasn’t prepared for this sudden attention.
“This is…oh, man,” Glapion said as he cupped his hands and raised them to his face, trying to find the right words.
Sunday evening, before tipping off against USC in their final home game, the Bears will honor three senior players.
Though one is far more recognizable to fans than the other two, this Cal team values Glapion, walk-on Nick Kerr and all-Pac-12 point guard Tyrone Wallace just the same.
“With our walk-ons, it’s not just a thing where you just consider them as walk-ons and some people have them for grade point averages and all that,” Martin said.
[...] interest from college coaches was tepid, at best, for a no-frills guard with little AAU experience.
A bulging disc in his back derailed much of his freshman season.
Fully healthy in 2013-14, he cracked the starting lineup for a Hawks team that reached the Northern California regional semifinals.
In a possible 60 games the past two seasons, he has totaled 19 points and 34 minutes in 17 appearances.