NCAA Approves Preseason College Football Practice Plan

Indiana will be able to begin preseason preparations on July 12, starting with eight hours per week and building up to the Sept. 4 opener at Wisconsin.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The NCAA approved the next step to get the college football season to start on time Thursday when it announced its six-week preseason plan for all schools.

Start dates for each phase of a school's offseason program will correspond with the date of its first game. In Indiana's case, that's Friday, Sept. 4 at Wisconsin, so players can begin participating in "up to eight hours of weight training, conditioning and film review per week," beginning on July 12, per the NCAA. Then, from July 24 to Aug. 6, that would increase to 20 hours per week as work to prepare for the season would begin in earnest.

“This is the culmination of a significant amount of collaboration in our effort to find the best solution for Division I football institutions,” said Shane Lyons, chair of the committee and director of athletics at West Virginia. “Our student-athletes, conference commissioners, coaches and health and safety professionals helped mold the model.'' 

From July 23 through Aug. 5, student-athletes will be allowed up to 20 hours of countable athletically related activities per week (not more than four hours per day) as follows:

• Up to eight hours per week for weight training and conditioning.
• Up to six hours per week for 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, one-on-one meetings, etc.

During this 14-day period, student-athletes are required to get at least two days off.

The legislated 29-day preseason practice period would begin on Aug. 6 for Indiana, with a five-day acclimatization period, followed by the opportunity for up to 25 on-field practices.

“Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country, we believe this model provides institutions and their student-athletes flexibility to prepare for the upcoming season,” Lyons said.

Indiana players have resumed voluntary workouts on campus. The first wave of 68 players were all tested for COVID-19 before they could return to the facilities for workouts. More players will return later this week, but workout groups will remain small and controlled.

Indiana coach Tom Allen was excited to see players return to campus after a long three months apart. There has been so much uncertainly through this pandemic — there still is, really — but things are trending in the right direction.

The next step is getting ready for the highly anticipated season. Indiana finished 8-5 a year ago, and has high expectations in 2020.

"Getting them back in June is probably sooner than some thought. That's a positive thing,'' Allen said last week. "It's another process-driven approach. We're not going to shy away from expectations. We're excited about the season. The focus is on us physically getting in the kind of condition that we need to be in to have the kind of season we want to have." 

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