College football coaches around the country have been calling for six weeks of practice before the start of the 2020 football season, and it's looking like they're about to get their wish.
The NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee is expected to approve a proposal this week that will allow teams to resume required workouts in July and begin practicing six weeks before the start of the season, according to a report by Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger.
Per the proposed timeline, teams who begin the season on Sept. 5 – like Ohio State is scheduled to – will be allowed to begin required workouts (without football equipment) on July 13, walk-through practices on July 24 and fall camp on Aug. 7.
NEWS: #NCAA FB Oversight Committee is set to approve this week a preseason practice plan that'll include walk-thrus - with a ball! - starting in mid/late July.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 8, 2020
The plan, now in ink, is being circulated to schools. More progress toward an on-time kickoff.https://t.co/6iioMDIc51 pic.twitter.com/ZYOynP8Lxo
“We’re 90% there,” West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, the chair of the Football Oversight Committee, told Sports Illustrated.
The proposed plan will allow college football teams to start practicing earlier than they usually would during the summer, giving them the opportunity to make up for some of the practice time they lost this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the first two weeks of practices will be non-contact practices in which teams are allowed to use footballs but are not allowed to use helmets or pads. Teams will also be limited to 20 hours of required activities per week during those two weeks, unlike the unlimited hours they are allowed during preseason camp (until classes begin and the week before the season).
Teams will be required to start practice at least four weeks before playing their first game, so schools will need to be cleared to practice at the start of August in order to start the season on time.
Most of Ohio State's football players returned to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Monday for voluntary workouts, which are set to continue through at least the end of June. If the plan proposed by the Football Oversight Committee is finalized this week and officially approved by the Division I Council on June 17, the voluntary workout period would continue until the second full week of July.
