Just about every football player knows what it means to go through a grueling two-a-day practice during fall camp each year. The days of that happening, however, appear to be just about over.
As first noted by CBS Sports, the NCAA Sport Science Institute has formally recommended eliminating two-a-days and reducing contact at all other practices. In addition, the group also wants to limit full contact practices to once a week during the regular season and further change the way postseason practices are run depending on the amount of time between games.
Schools received the document from the institute at the recent NCAA Convention and will soon move forward with legislation based on the recommendations over the coming months. Included in the foundational statements are precise guidelines for when -- and what amount of -- contact is permitted over a seven day period, which could form the basis of any new rules put forth by member institutions.
Concussion awareness is no doubt the driving force behind all this, with the report itself coming after several studies were released on the subject and the NCAA conducting its own ‘Safety in College Football Summit’ last February. There has certainly been a general trend in this direction already, with the Big 12 limiting in-season contact to no more than twice a week back in 2015. The Ivy League also eliminated live tackling during all in-season practices last year but this could be the start of something enacted more formally across the entire NCAA structure.
So have we seen the end of two-a-days? With the American Football Coaches Association and the NCAA Football Oversight Committee among the organizations endorsing this report, it seems very likely we will say goodbye to this rite of passage in the not too distant future.