NCAA To Lift Moratorium on On-Campus Activities, Changes Coming to Transfer Rules

The first hurdle in the return of college athletics was crossed on Wednesday afternoon.

The NCAA Division I Council voted to lift the ban on student-athletes on campuses, allowing football and men’s basketball players to return to their respective schools on June 1 for voluntary workouts.

Football is back! Well, not really.

How about football practice? Is that back? No.

OK, so it’s football training? Kinda.

It’s football without… footballs, for at least a while.

Welcome to virus-proofed summer workouts.https://t.co/sNwJ286wXT
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 20, 2020

On-campus activity for student-athletes at the University of Alabama has been strictly banned since March 13, with the football program announcing the cancellation of its first spring practice mere hours before it was scheduled to take place.

“We encourage each school to use its discretion to make the best decisions possible for football and basketball student-athletes within the appropriate resocialization framework,” Division 1 Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Penn. “Allowing for voluntary athletics activity acknowledges that reopening our campuses will be an individual decision but should be based on advice from medical experts.”

Under normal circumstances, student-athletes would be allowed to participate in two on-field hours of practice a week with coaches as well as six additional hours with strength and conditioning staff. However, with the new rules set in place by the NCAA, students may only participate in voluntary workouts. Strength staffers are allowed to coordinate and supervise the workouts, but no on-field coaches are allowed to have in-person contact with the players.The student-athletes must initiate the voluntary workout on-campus.

For football, this means no handling of footballs or practice on the field until further notice by the NCAA.

The Southeastern Conference is currently scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday where it will discuss further the matter of allowing the athletes to return.

Changes are coming to the NCAA’s current transfer rules.

The Division 1 Council also approved a resolution recommended by the Transfer Working Group that a legislative and comprehensive package that allows uniform rules governing eligibility by January 2021.

“The transfer environment has long been an issue of much discussion in Division I. The Division I Council is committed to a uniform and equitable approach to transfer rules that considers student-athlete well- being and the opportunities available after transfer,” Calhoun said. “We will not simply change the rule, but we will consider a comprehensive package designed to address the multiple complexities involved.”

There is a likelihood that the wavier process involved with a student-athlete transferring will be abolished as we know it.

The resolution calls the wavier process “an unsustainable method to achieve lasting stability, consistency and transparency within the transfer environment.”

“The Transfer Waiver Working Group members are ready to assist as the division works toward developing a comprehensive solution,” John Steinbrecher, the chair of the Transfer Working Group said. “We have developed a detailed understanding of the waiver process and believe that knowledge will be valuable as the division moves toward a permanent legislative solution.”