the ones I feel most badly for are the guys who took a PWO instead of a scholarship elsewhere and are now getting kicked to the curb. I counseled some of them not to do it so I suppose ultimately the decision was theirs but what I hope comes from this is that kids who have actual scholarship offers elsewhere don't buy into the promise that they're going to "find you a scholarship" in the future if they just take the PWO now. They may not get cut from the team but that "find you a scholarship" stuff will certainly never happen. These kids are subject to the same transfer rules as scholarship athletes so the coaches know that for most of them they can keep them as walkons even if they deserve a scholarship because they control them now to a large degree.
As fans we of course only care about our team and so we want our team to have all of the depth and the most talent it can have, we don't see these kids as individuals for the most part. I didn't used to be any different but my experience has changed my POV on that, I see these kids much more as individuals now especially since I know so many of them and have seen some of how this has gone.