ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich

It's the season of walk-ons in the ACC. There's Virginia receiver Matt Snyder, who cracked the starting lineup, according to the latest depth chart. There's Maryland offensive linemen Paul Pinegar and Andrew Gonnella, who have earned the starting jobs at right tackle and right guard, respectively. There's FSU receiver Louis Givens, who finally earned a scholarship this summer.

And the latest to join the group of walk-on success stories is FSU defensive end Craig Yarborough, who -- at least to many outside the program -- came out of nowhere when he appeared at the top of the depth chart at left end this week. I got a chance on Wednesday to ask coach Bobby Bowden about that move, and the reason was simple -- Yarborough out-hustled everyone else.

"Craig is a good story because he's a walk-on," Bowden said. "He came over here with a pretty good reputation, just not what people were looking for. What he has done is out-hustled everybody for the job. He has out-hustled everybody for the job. He'll start that ballgame. He got hurt a little bit the other day, with a slight pull, and we're going to let him lay off a couple of days. But if he's healthy, he'll start that doggone ball game."

Bowden explained that just because a player starts, doesn't mean he's got a permanent role.

"He might be on the first down team, and never play second or third down, because you're going to send in pass rushers, and things like that," Bowden said. "But he's the starter.

"Now, the guy that can solve our problem but he hasn't solved it is (Kevin) McNeil," Bowden said. "He has the talent to solve that problem, but he's missed to much and he doesn't hustle like you need to hustle to be a first-teamer. I wish he would."

He'll get a chance on Monday to watch Yarborough to see how it's done.