Big 12 has looming decision on when to allow football players back on campus
The Big 12’s presidents and chancellors met on Monday to discuss pressing matters, including when to reopen campuses for football players and other fall sports athletes in order to prepare for fall seasons.
The general belief is that football players will require at least six weeks to properly train and prepare for a season, which is being threatened amid the coronavirus pandemic. That means players must be on campus in mid-July for the season to start on time.
As of now, the Big 12 has suspended all in-person activities through May 31. The biggest decision is when to lift those restrictions. Signs point toward the league extending them until at least mid-June, which would still provide programs enough time to prepare for a season.
For now, though, it’s “to be determined,” Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said in an email.
“It is an active agenda item for our Board of Directors and will be for the remainder of the month,” Burda said.
TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati expects the conference to modify what’s restricted “very soon.”
“We have had a number of discussions about it,” Donati said. “The presidents and chancellors will ultimately make the call on when our student-athletes return to campus. There are a lot of moving parts.”
The foundation for the Big 12 progressing toward a season is positive, though. All 10 schools have stated intentions to reopen their campuses in the fall.
And, by Monday, all five states in which schools are located (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and West Virginia) had restrictions lifted in terms of accessing gyms.
Even though gyms have reopened, it is in limited capacity. Colleges will likely be able to conduct strength and conditioning programs in small groups. However, an issue arises when it comes to practice.
For instance, there’s no way around a football practice with guys touching and sweating on each other and needing 22 players on the field at once for team drills. You can’t practice soccer without some sort of contact, either. And the list goes on.
That’s a hurdle to clear down the road. For now, the mindset is simply to get players back on campus and start getting them into a strength and conditioning program.
The prevailing notion remains that colleges won’t be able to have student-athletes on campus if everyday students aren’t allowed on campus.
Again, the target date for college football fans to pencil in is mid-July for the season to start on time. If campuses are open and players are reporting, signs are promising for a season that starts on time.
As a general timeline, if players reported on July 15, that would be just over six weeks out from the Week Zero start of Aug. 29. Most teams, including every Big 12 school, are scheduled to start on Week 1, which would be seven-plus weeks from the July 15 date.
Oklahoma State has a Thursday, Sept. 3 game scheduled against Oregon State, while every other program is playing on Saturday. TCU is at Cal on Sept. 5, a game that remains on schedule as planned, according to Donati.
