Urban Meyer: "No Chance" College Football Moves to the Spring
The last week has been filled with debate on when (or if) the college football season should be kicked off. One of the ideas that seems to be gaining some traction is the idea of a spring season. Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer isn't interested.
Meyer is an analyst for FOX College Football and had this to say on the topic:
"When you play a long season and when you get to spring practice,” Meyer said on a segment on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff. “When you play 2,000 competitive reps, your body is not ready for contact in three months or two months. It’s not. I would not put those players in harm’s way.”
If the Buckeyes, or any other national championship contender for that matter, played as many as 15 games in the spring, and then turned around and played as many as 15 more games for the 2021 season (assuming it kicks off as scheduled), you're talking about potentially playing 30 games in a nine month stretch. Even team that aren't as competitive and only play 12 games in each of those situations would still play 24 games in that same stretch. That's an awful lot of football and significantly more than what those student-athletes have been used to in years past.
It certainly brings up the question of player safety.
“You talk about student-athlete welfare,” Meyer said. “No chance — you’re not doing that.”
Meyer also inferred that the overall product would suffer if they move to a spring season because the best players in the country would likely choose not to play.
“If I’m Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields, or (Chris) Olave, some of these high, high draft picks — I’m not playing,” Meyer said. “I’m getting to go make some money and go earn a living and support my family.”
While it's possible the NFL could move the draft out of it's typical April home, that is seen as extremely unlikely. Multiple national reporters have indicated that NFL sources told them they aren't interested in changing their draft plans.
Ohio State recently suspended all voluntary workouts because of a small CoVID-19 outbreak on campus and the University of Maryland made the same decision on Saturday. The Big Ten announced Thursday that all fall sports would only compete (if they are allowed to play) against other teams within the conference.
Whether or not this season will be played is one question. Determining when it would be played is certainly part of that conversation. Time is no longer on college football's side, so fans should expect an answer fairly soon. In the meantime, all they can do is hope that the pandemic's effects subside and playing fall sports becomes less of a question.
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