The idea of spring football is picking up a lot of steam.

Coaches, athletic directors and other school officials are reportedly talking regularly, but so far there is a consensus on absolutely nothing. That’s because of the unknowns in the coronavirus conundrum.

Most of the scenarios bandied about do not preclude a second wave of the virus or knowing how many infections will be in each state at the time the season kicks off. Coaches fear starting on schedule, then having to stop if a bunch of players need to be quarantined. What happens on one team also affects last week’s opponent and this week’s.

Because the clock is running on the start of practice no one can predict where the virus is going or when it will be contained, the idea of buying time until the spring is getting more attention. We may not have a widely available vaccine by 2021, but we may have more answers.

If allowing college football, and all other fall sports, to start on schedule, the chances of chaos seems higher. The NCAA probably cannot secure enough reliable equipment to test every player on every contact sport team. Perhaps, more advanced testing will be available in six months.

And it might give schools more time to consider alternate schedules, like play only visiting teams that can travel by bus the morning of the game and go back right after. That plays havoc with TV start times, and players who will be drafted might refuse to play spring ball?

You can see why the NCAA seemed to release a three-phase plan for athletes to return to campus, start individual workouts and then go into full practice, all with two-week intervals, and then back off and say everything will be in the hands of the school and state officials.

Sometime in June seems to be the target date that we will know if the season is planning to start on time, or schedules are going to be adjusted in one way or the other. That may include reworking the opponents, playing fewer games with more open dates and move everything to the spring and hope for more clarity by then.

Whoever makes whatever decision will be on the hot seat, for sure. How would you like to be the governor of an SEC state, call off king football and then run for reelection in November? Good luck with that!

 

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