ORONO – When Jon Wallingford was going through the college application process, one thing he didn’t have to do was sift through a stack of athletic scholarship offers.

That’s not to say the Edward Little High School graduate wasn’t a good athlete. He was a standout in track and field and basketball, earning New England regional and Maine McDonald’s All-Star honors. But he was looking for a solid chemical engineering program, not a starting lineup spot.

So when he enrolled at the University of Maine in the fall of 1999, he figured his varsity sports days were over. No problem, he thought, there’s always pickup ball at UMaine’s field house three days a week.

Three semesters later, while playing pickup ball one day with then-UMaine assistant coach and former player Ed Jones, Jones offered Wallingford an intriguing opportunity.

“Coach Jones was playing with me and we played against the coaches one time. After the game, he said he’d like to introduce me to the guys and have me join the team as a walk-on,” Wallingford recalled. “I love basketball, so I started playing pickup with them the rest of my sophomore year.”

The next year, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior guard officially became a walk-on and saw action in four games before fracturing his wrist during a Jan. 2002 practice and missing the rest of the season.

Despite the injury and the fact that he was already facing long odds at getting any appreciable playing time, Wallingford not only came back the next season, he scored his first collegiate points.

“One of my favorite stories on our team is Jon Wallingford,” said Maine head coach John Giannini. “The role of a walk-on on a division I program is extremely challenging. You have to work hard in practice, you have to be competitive, you have to be unselfish, and there’s not a lot of reward.”

Wallingford knew that going in. So why bust your butt every day and get pounded in practice like a tackling dummy when there’s very little chance of getting into a game?

“Once I commit myself to anything, I really stick with it. I never questioned being on the team,” said the Auburn native. “I wasn’t sure about playing, but I figured I’d give it a shot because I love basketball.”

He’s made the most of his “shot” by becoming a valued practice player who forces teammates to improve and better prepare themselves for opponents. Last year, he scored two points and played in two games. The year before? Four games and no points.

“When you’re in that role for three years and you’re used to playing against Division I players every day, you develop that sense of pride and you’re stronger and more skilled than when you started,” Giannini said. “It’s not an easy thing to do and it takes a road that requires a lot of work and patience, but he’s taken it and shown he’ll be confident and aggressive when he gets in.”

Wallingford canned three for four 3-point shots for nine points and added an assist in six minutes of play in the team’s final preseason game.

As much of a breakout as that may have been, his real contributions may have come afterward, in practice, serving as a defensive pest to get his teammates used to the tight, in-your-face defensive pressure they’ll face from Florida State University Friday night.

“We let Wally hack and foul as much as he wanted in practice and simulate the quickness we’ll see there,” said Giannini.

Wallingford has always been an invaluable player in practice, but now he’s making himself valuable in other ways.

“Most players who walk on don’t reach that point, but he has reached it and he can definitely help our team when we need him,” Giannini said.