College Football in the Spring: When? How much? Who plays?

| August 15, 2020 | SPORTS | No Comments
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FILE – In this Dec. 7, 2019, file photo, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields (1) runs with the ball against Wisconsin during the first half of the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game, in Indianapolis. The Big Ten won’t play football this fall because of concerns about COVID-19, becoming the first of college sports’ power conferences to yield to the pandemic. The move announced Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020, comes six day after the conference that includes historic programs such as Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State had released a revised conference-only schedule that it hoped would help it navigate a fall season with potential COVID-19 disruptions. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer

Back in April, not long after the NCAA basketball tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the idea of moving the 2020 college football to the spring of 2021 already was being tossed around.

A last resort is what it was called by conference commissioners and athletic directors.

When it looked as if the U.S. might be winning its fight against COVID-19, the idea of a spring season mostly fell by the wayside.

“We broached it very little in our AD meetings and really haven’t gotten serious about it at all,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said Tuesday. “I had one AD from another league call and just talk about it a little bit.”

Time to start talking about it a lot.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed fall football on Tuesday, hoping to salvage a spring season like the Mid-American Conference and Mountain West plan to do.

What that looks like is anybody’s guess, but officials in those conferences need to figure out everything from how to prepare in the fall to how much to play in the spring, where in the calendar it could fit and who exactly is going to be suiting up for these teams?

More than two dozen FBS players, including some big stars from the Big Ten such as Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons and receivers Rondale Moore of Purdue and Rashod Bateman of Minnesota, opted out of the 2020 season even before the conference postponed.

Will other highly regarded future NFL players such as Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, Oregon offensive lineman Penei Sewell and Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth bother participating in a spring season?

The NFL scouting combine is in late February and the draft is in late April. If the NFL does nothing to accommodate spring college football, some of the sure-thing players are almost certain to leave. The players who needed another year to improve their stock might be more inclined to stay and play. But an injury in the spring could be an even bigger problem when it comes time to earn a spot on an NFL roster in the summer.

Maybe players will still try to play in the fall but in another conference. The Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, American Athletic Conference, Conference USA and Sun Belt are all still on track to start their seasons in September.