South Florida basketball walk-on put on scholarship

TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 27, 2021) -- Mark Calleja might not be an instantly recognizable name for most South Florida basketball fans despite being on the Bulls roster since the 2018-19 season. That’s because Calleja is a walk-on.

Uh…correction…was a walk-on until Aug. 4, when he learned that he would be on scholarship for this season.

There are not many other feel-good stories that can beat a moment when someone's teammates are equally excited about the goals one has accomplished by earning a scholarship.

Calleja, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard, started reaping the rewards of his athletic scholarship with the beginning of the fall semester, which started in August.

A 2018 graduate of Hudson High School (Hudson, Fla.), Calleja (pronounced: (Kai-y a y-yuh) was not heavily recruited even though he finished his high school career with 1,497 points and 509 rebounds. Calleja averaged 22.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 steals in his senior year. He also made 37 percent of his three-point attempts at Hudson.

A leg injury made a few of the schools, that were recruiting Calleja, pass on him.

“I had Division II schools that were interested and also NAIA and D-III but no Division I schools ever offered me,” Calleja said. “Then I broke my leg ending my senior year of high school and had to get surgery prior to coming to USF. So, it kind of changed my trajectory of where I wanted to be and where I want to play ball. Some of the schools did back off me. I mean, quite a bit. They were respectful about it. They didn't, like, ghost me or just not answer my calls or talk to me anymore. After I told them [about the injury] they definitely lost interest.”

What led Calleja to USF?

“I had an uncle graduate, from the engineering program,” he said. “Actually, as an electrical engineer and I think my mom got her Master's from the University of South Florida in education. Besides that I had no ties to USF. My coach reached out and got in contact with Coach [Scott] Wagers and he gave me the information about walking on and what it was going to be like. So, my first interaction with any of the coaches was with Coach Wagers on the phone. And just kind of, I think, if I remember correctly, him telling me about the walk-on tryout and like, what time it was and stuff like that.

Calleja’s first interaction with Brian Gregory was at the tryout.

“I think the first thing BG said to me was when we were all together at the beginning of the tryout. He's like, ‘We're here to evaluate you as a player. We're looking for someone to come in and help our program get better.”

Once the walk-ons for the 2018-19 season were selected one of Gregory’s assistant coaches called Calleja with the news.

“I was driving. I think I was leaving class and I got a call from Coach [Larry] Dixon,” said Calleja. Coach Dixon was telling me that I made the team and I needed to come in and get my physical, make sure I pass and I'm eligible to play and fill out some paperwork.”

For a walk-on, that first time the head coach looks them in the eyes and has a conversation with them as a member of the team, however brief it might be, becomes burned into their memory bank.

“My first interaction with BG after the tryout and being on the team, was the next day I came in to watch practice with Ron Lubin, the other walk-on that made it, and he came over and talked to us. And it was kind of a fiery conversation. He came over, and we're sitting down the sidelines, and he said ‘Hey, you've got to get your physicals done and be at practice the next day.’ He looked at Ron and he's like, ‘You need to get your grades up.’ Then he looked at me, and I'm only a month into school, and he was like ‘You need to get your grades up too and you're a freshman.’ And he just walked off. So, it was like, oh crap, we’ve got to pick it up.”

In part two of our conversation with Mark Calleja tells us how his parents found out he made the team. He also walks us through what a typical day is like for him, what advice he would give to someone who was considering trying out to be a walk-on, getting financial aid and whether or not he lives with his teammates.