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Oregon Football: NCAA Approves First Steps For Return

By Justin Phillips

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - MARCH 06: The NCAA logo is seen on the wall as Yeshiva players warmup prior to playing against Worcester Polytechnic Institute during the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship - First Round at Goldfarb Gymnasium on at Johns Hopkins University on March 6, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. On Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced that Maryland had confirmed three cases of residents with COVID-19, otherwise known as the Coronavirus, prompting Johns Hopkins officials to host the NCAA men's basketball tournament without spectators. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - MARCH 06: The NCAA logo is seen on the wall as Yeshiva players warmup prior to playing against Worcester Polytechnic Institute during the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship - First Round at Goldfarb Gymnasium on at Johns Hopkins University on March 6, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. On Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced that Maryland had confirmed three cases of residents with COVID-19, otherwise known as the Coronavirus, prompting Johns Hopkins officials to host the NCAA men's basketball tournament without spectators. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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On Wednesday, the NCAA approved the first steps to return to some sense of normalcy with three college sports including football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.

This is good news for college football overall, but there are going to be obstacles. While most states have started the ‘reopening’ process, one state that has areas closed for the foreseeable future, California, may have to figure out some logistics.

The NCAA announced that voluntary workouts can start on June 1st. While the season will not start for several months after, the date for the first game is August 29th. If you consider there is typically six weeks of Fall Camp, some areas have some additional time to get up to speed or they will have a limited time to prepare.

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For the state of Oregon, Phase I has begun and programs like Oregon as well Oregon State, Portland, and Portland State will likely be in good shape as long as the numbers remain close to where they are now or drop when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

What will likely happen is players who remained close to campus will be the first allowed to begin workouts. The schools will then integrate those who are away from campus or in other states as part of the process limiting the number of individuals in certain areas like dining rooms and weight rooms. There will be a lot of logistics to workout moving forward.

For many, social distancing has already been the norm for several months. Holding meetings with programs like Zoom will likely continue to be the standard as we head into summer.

Ultimately decisions will be made along with the guidelines of federal, state, and local authorities, along with conference and university officials. But, this is a good start, a framework so to speak for the return of college sports. It will be up to individual programs to decide what is best for their respective return.

Baby steps is where we are at and the NCAA just took a big one.

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