[Walt Longmire]

Unless something has changed I believe that still makes you count as a scholarship player against football numbers, sadly he may have to turn it down to stay on team. But that’s the NCAA for you.

That's not how it worked with my son at EKU. He was able to accept the Governor's Scholar Scholarship that paid his tuition, room and board. He received a "book scholarship" from the football team that paid the rest. In order to accept the academic scholarship there were certain criteria that had to be met: finish in the top 10% of your graduating class, at least a 3.5 GPA, and a minimum ACT/SAT score. If you met that criteria you could accept an academic scholarship while playing football. That was in 2012 so maybe it has changed.