NCAA releases proposed preseason football model. Canes getting closer to real thing
The NCAA’s Division I Football Oversight Committee has released its proposed preseason model for college football in light of the coronavirus pandemic, making the season seem that much more attainable.
The model, released Thursday night, must be approved by the Division I Council next Wednesday for it to go into effect.
Keep in mind that schools are expected to also consider their individual COVID-19 “local and state health policies’’ in carrying out the model, should it be approved.
For the University of Miami, which begins its season Sept. 5 against Temple at Hard Rock Stadium, the model means that preseason practice would begin Aug. 7 but coaches could begin interacting with players by mid-July. There would be the usual five-day practice acclimatization period (e.g. beginning with just shorts and jerseys and leading a little at a time to pads), followed by up to 25 on-field fall camp practices.
UM players begin voluntary weightlifting and conditioning sessions on Monday, with strength coach David Feeley and a medical trainer present, UM coach Manny Diaz said this week. Greentree Field, where normal practices occur, was opened June 2 for player-only voluntary workouts, Diaz said.
Also relevant to Miami using the proposed NCAA model, student-athletes “may be required to participate in up to eight hours of weight training, conditioning and film review per week (not more than two hours of film review per week) from July 13-23, according to the NCAA.
After that, for UM, for example, from July 24-Aug. 6, players may be required to participate in no more than 20 hours “of countable athletically related activities per week (not more than four hours per day),’’ per the NCAA.
The specifics from July 24-Aug. 6, should the model be approved:
▪ Up to eight hours a week for weight training and conditioning.
▪ Up to six hours per week or walk-throughs, which may include the use of a football.
▪ Up to six hours per week for meetings, which may include film review, team meetings, position meetings, 1-on-1 meetings, etc.
Players must get at least two days off from July 24-Aug. 6.
“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 University athletic director Shane Lyons, chair of the Oversight Committee, told the NCAA. “Our student-athletes, conference commissioners, coaches and health and safety professionals helped mold the model we are proposing.’’
Lyons said in an NCAA-distributed video that “there’s no blueprint for any of this.’’
“We’re working with a lot of unknowns and uncertainties as we move this and understanding it could change now, day to day, week by week, month by month. What we have learned is that being patient a little bit, when we started this discussion in April, has led us to what we got to today because things are changing, and fortunately right now it’s for the positive of campuses reopening and at least having the voluntary workouts as we speak.
“...It’s been a challenge, but there are still a lot of hypotheticals out there... One thing COVID-19 has taught us is we have to try to address hypotheticals and have game plans in place in case it does change. ...We’ve never faced anything like this.’’
UM, as well as its Atlantic Coast Conference, still has not announced any formal coronavirus testing protocols, though the Hurricanes will be testing student-athletes one way or another, Diaz and athletic director Blake James have said.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 11:18 AM.
