NCAA Votes To End On-Campus Moratorium, SEC Decision Could See LSU Athletes Return to Campus
On Wednesday, the NCAA took another step towards athletics returning in the fall, voting to end the on-campus moratorium which would allow student-athletes to return to campus.
Division I football and basketball student-athletes can participate in on-campus voluntary athletics activities beginning June 1, the Division I Council decided in a virtual meeting Wednesday, as long as all local, state and federal regulations are followed.
Additionally, Council members extended the blanket waiver allowing teams in those sports to require eight hours per week of virtual nonphysical activities through the end of June, recognizing that some student-athletes won’t be able return to campus or will not be comfortable doing so.
As part of the NCAA’s decision, the voluntary on-campus workouts must be initiated by the student-athlete with no contact or direction from the coaches.
The news was first reported by Pete Themal of Yahoo sports and later confirmed by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde.
What this means for LSU remains to be determined. The SEC presidents will vote on Friday whether to allow athletes to return to campus on June 1 or June 15.
If that happens, it will then be up to each university to decide when players will start returning to campus. In the last week, athletic director Scott Woodward and football strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt have said LSU is targeting a June 1 return.
In particular, Moffitt said the goal is to see the incoming freshmen return first for conditioning tests but that hinders on what’s allowed by the NCAA and SEC.
“A lot of it is going to have to do with our reporting date, we're planning for June 1 and then it will also be determined largely in part what the NCAA and SEC will allow us to do," Moffitt said in an interview Wednesday.
Woodward and a number of conference leaders and athletic directors believe that athletes being back on campus will benefit them tremendously. LSU has the resources from a nutrition and a health standpoint that is far better than what they might be getting at home.
“We have top concern for our student-athletes,” Woodward said last week. “We're making sure that is paramount, that we do these things we can control because that's one thing in our hands that we can help and we can do better.”
Story will be updated when more information is known.
