The scholarship can be renewed, or not, but I don't think the NCAA allows you to flip kids who came on as scholarship players to walk-on status just so you can pile more kids on the roster. If that were possible a lot of redshirting players would become temporary walk-ons.
Kids who came in as walk-ons can get a scholarship for a year and either keep it or then fall back off. Maybe Connor goes back to being a walk-on, but I doubt it. Look at the optics of that:
- 4-star recruit by pretty much every service I ever saw, including ESPN's top 100 list
- Has started for most of a year and a half
- Generally seen as a legit B1G starter and "glue" guy for a pretty good Iowa team this year
Reward: Walk-on status.
I get that Fran can afford college, but putting Connor on walk-on status (and Patrick for that matter, a higher ranked recruit than Connor) is nothing but gaming scholarship limits. I'd be fine if Fran did it, but I don't think it's fair to put an expectation out there. Frank Garza can afford to pay tuition as well. If Luka is back next year, should he be a walk-on?