NCAA Taking Major Steps Toward Setting a Preseason Practice Schedule
Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger was the first to report the NCAA's current plan to return to college football practice.
The governing body is currently circulating a proposal that could have coaches interacting with their players by the first week of July and potentially conducting walk-through practices approximately two weeks later.
The current plan would have the season starting on its scheduled date with no delays to the beginning of play. It appears to be close to becoming a reality.
“We’re 90% there,” Shane Lyons, the West Virginia athletic director and chair of the Oversight Committee, told Sports Illustrated in an interview Monday.
The NCAA began allowing players to work out on campus starting June 1, though the Big 12 pushed back its date for member schools to June 15.
Several Texas players began the heavy screening process today to get back on campus that includes testing for the novel coronavirus as well as temperature checks.
Players will be allowed to work out for up to 20 hours a week once they are cleared through the screening process.
Everything will move forward on a tenative basis as officials continue to prepare for all sorts of contingencies up to and after the start of the year.
Virus outbreaks aren’t only possible in the preseason. Many expect that some programs won’t play a full schedule of games because of outbreaks. “The idea of interrupted seasons is fairly likely,” says Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. “The idea of flexible scheduling is needed. With the number of universities we have, on Sunday you might find out your opponent isn’t going to play this week. Got to pick up another game. Might have two teams show up and can’t play (that day).”
Already, programs have reported that several of their athletes have tested positive since returning to voluntary workouts, an expected result. However, several states are experiencing a surge in the virus since reopening. Lyons doesn’t expect a universal shutdown if the virus delays or interrupts a portion of schools during the preseason. That is a local issue. “You could end up having a state that is having a spike and go back to Phase I,” he says. “That’s where you’ll have to deal with it on a local basis and not a national basis.”
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