College football’s future could be decided come mid-June according to Utah athletic director Mark Harlan.
As relayed by the Salt Lake Tribune, Harlan recently told a local radio show that any potential changes to the sport’s calendar would likely occur around the middle of the summer with regards to either pushing things back or even truncating the 2020 campaign.
“The way I see it is, I think there needs to be some understanding of where we’re at, let’s say mid-June if we’re still kind of in an environment like we are now,” Harlan said. “In mid-June, I think we’re going to have to really take a look at and make any alterations to the football season.”
Harlan’s comments carry a little more weight than your average AD as he’s on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee. The mid-June cutoff has been brought up by others and tracks with many coaches and administrators saying there needs to be a “ramp up” period for players prior to fall camp starting. Estimates have ranged from four weeks to eight weeks prior to preseason sessions, with Harlan saying seven weeks is the “happy spot” most have arrived at.
That would put players back and working out by some point in July at the latest if the season is to proceed as scheduled. College commissioners and presidents have already said that having regular students on campus is going to be a prerequisite so there are even some mile markers that schools will have to hit before even considering the return of football players.
Obviously the coronavirus has affected just about every aspect of the country right now and college football is no different. Getting back to normal still seems like it will be a long ways off. As Harlan and others have remarked however, we could be approaching a few key dates for knowing just when, exactly, we might get back to seeing fade routes and goal line stands on the gridiron this fall.