Walk-on learns of scholarship at practice; team erupts in joy
Uhl is third member of his family to earn the honor from UD.
DAYTON — Dayton Flyers coach Anthony Grant had a surprise announcement for walk-on Brady Uhl at practice Thursday.
In a video released by UD’s official men’s basketball social media accounts, Grant talked as the players gathered around him at the Cronin Center.
“Brady, I love the way that you’ve led,” Grant said. “I love the way you’ve taken control of the scout team, doing everything we’ve asked you to do. I’m grateful, and we get to bless you with a scholarship.”
The team erupted in excitement and started jumping up and down with Uhl before picking him up.
“Couldn’t be more thankful and blessed then I already am,” Uhl wrote later on X (Twitter).
Division I basketball teams can use 13 scholarships. Dayton had one scholarship open because freshman forward Vasilije Erceg left the team for personal reasons in July.
A 6-foot-2 fourth-year guard from Alter High School, Uhl is a third-generation Flyer.
Uhl is the grandson of Bill Uhl, Dayton’s 13th all-time leading scorer (1,627 points). Bill, a 7-foot center, played for Dayton from 1953-56, averaging 18.4 points per game as a senior when he was a Look Magazine firstteam All-American.
Brady’s father, Bill Uhl Jr., played for Dayton from 198690. He scored 531 points in his career and averaged 5.8 as a senior for a team that finished 22-10 and won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament. His career overlapped for one season with Grant, who was a senior when Uhl Jr. was a freshman.
The last time Dayton awarded a scholarship to a walk-on it went to Bobby Wehrli in January 2015. He averaged 2.3 points in 29 games and saw a dramatic increase in playing time after two players were dismissed from the team in December and Dayton was left with six healthy scholarship players. Wehrli played a key role off the bench for a team that won 27 games and remained on scholarship the following season.
Uhl has played a total of six minutes in five games this season. Twice he entered at the end of the first half to foul a player because Dayton had fouls to give and wanted to shorten the clock for its opponent.
Uhl played a total of 55 minutes in 18 games last season. With two guards injured during the A-10 tournament, Uhl saw meaningful minutes in the quarterfinals and ignited a big first-half run by making the team’s first 3-pointer in a victory against Saint Joseph’s.
“When you’re in the position I am, you have to stay ready,” Uhl said after the game. “And if you’re bummed out that you didn’t get to play, that doesn’t matter. It’s about the team. At the end of the day, I’m part of a team that’s something bigger than just me.”
Uhl was a standout at Alter, averaging 18.7 points as a senior in 2020. He surpassed 1,000 points in February of his senior year. He started his college career at the University of the Cumberlands, a NAIA school in Williamsburg, Kentucky. He averaged 4.0 minutes in eight games. He has one season of eligibility remaining after this one because that 2020-21 season, played during the pandemic, did not count against anyone’s eligibility.
Uhl is one of six walk-ons on the roster. Five are local graduates: Uhl, fifth-year senior C.J. Napier (Bishop Fenwick), freshmen Evan Dickey (Chaminade Julienne), Makai Grant (Chaminade Julienne) and Will Maxwell (Oakwood). The other walk-on is sophomore Atticus Schuler, of Columbus St. Francis DeSales and Westerville.