NCAA Shoots Down Deion Sanders’s Bold Spring Football Concept for Second Straight Year

The Colorado coach once again tried to compete against an opposing school in the spring window.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders had his request to the NCAA denied for a second straight season. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Colorado coach Deion Sanders has once again been shut out by the NCAA for an interesting spring football idea.

For the second consecutive season, Sanders asked permission from the NCAA to scrimmage another school during spring practice. This spring, he once again sought after a scrimmage against his good friend Fran Brown at Syracuse. According to a report from USA Today, the NCAA has denied the request from Sanders once again, which came via video conference on Jan. 22.

Last season, the Division I FBS oversight committee noted the late timing of the request as the reason for the denial. This season, the request by Syracuse and Colorado was filed earlier to avoid the same decision from the oversight committee, but the request was denied this time due to a subcommittee’s active review of potential changes to the college football calendar as a whole. The committee did not want to grant the request right now for just two teams.

Colorado spokesperson Steve Hurlbert told USA Today that the school did not plan to appeal the decision.

Current NCAA rules prevent outside competition in the spring window

Colorado and Syracuse’s request to the NCAA was put forth due to current rules surrounding competition in the spring practice window. Outside competition is currently forbidden under NCAA rules.

The committee reportedly told Colorado that “circumstances do not warrant relief of the legislation,” when announcing the denial, as the NCAA pointed to the current guidance related to the spring football window. The NCAA did, however, leave open the possibility of outside competition during spring football in the future. In the written denial to Colorado, the NCAA said that, “Based on feedback from the membership and other impacted governance committees, the subgroup may consider legislation [in the future] that would permit any institution to engage in a joint practice.”

Syracuse’s annual intrasquad spring game will take place on April 11. Colorado has not announced a spring game date, but does plan to open practice on March 2.

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