College football is officially one step closer to an on-time start to the 2020 season.
The NCAA's Division I Football Oversight Committee has finalized a preseason plan that will allow college football teams to return to the practice field six weeks before the start of their seasons, the NCAA announced Thursday.
Per the recommended plan, college football teams will be allowed to resume required on-campus team activities – initially for eight hours per week – 54 days before their first game. For teams who begin their season on Sept. 5, like Ohio State, that means July 13 will be the first day they can begin required strength and conditioning workouts, while they will also be allowed to require up to two hours of in-person film sessions per week.
43 days before the first game is when teams will be allowed to begin non-contact walk-through practices, in which teams will be permitted to practice football again but will not be allowed to use helmets or pads. For a 14-day period that begins July 24 for teams who begin on Sept. 5, teams will be permitted to have up to 20 hours of required activities – up to eight hours of strength and conditioning workouts, six hours of walk-throughs and six hours of meetings – per week. Football players will be required to have at least two days off per week during that period.
Preseason camp will be allowed to start on its usual timeline of 29 days before each team's first game, with no hourly limits on required activities until fall classes begin or seven days before the season, whichever comes first. For Ohio State, that means the first day of camp will be on Aug. 7. Fall camp will still begin a five-day acclimatization period in which teams cannot practice in full pads, after which teams will be allowed to have up to 25 preseason practices.
The recommended proposal still needs to be officially approved by the Division I Council, but that's expected to be a formality, according to Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel. The D-I Council will vote on the proposal on Wednesday.
The NCAA is expecting all schools to comply with local and state health policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is the culmination of a significant amount of collaboration in our effort to find the best solution for Division I football institutions,” West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, the chair of the Football Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “Our student-athletes, conference commissioners, coaches and health and safety professionals helped mold the model we are proposing.”
The six-week preseason practice model, which will allow teams more opportunities to work together in a football setting over the summer, came with the recommendations of many coaches around the country – including Ohio State's Ryan Day – after spring practices were cut short and teams were away from campuses for three months due to COVID-19.
Ohio State is among the schools that have now resumed voluntary workouts on campus, but coaches are not allowed to monitor those workouts nor require that players attend. College football teams are currently allowed to require eight weeks of virtual team activities such as meetings or film sessions, but cannot require any in-person activities.
