Students can return to campus for voluntary workouts for football on June 15th and for basketball starting July 1st.
Ten days ago the Pac-12 Conference announced that student-athletes could return to campus on June 15th to begin voluntary workouts for the upcoming college football season which is good news. On Thursday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown made the announcement that Lane County, where the University of Oregon resides, was cleared to enter Phase II following the Coronavirus Outbreak paving the way for a likely return of college football this season.
There is one area to be wary, however.
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Other schools throughout the country have returned in recent weeks and it was too soon. Alabama announced that five players tested positive for coronavirus over the last few days. With football being a contact sport, quarantines in place, and health of these players, all players, being a top concern along with fan safety, what is the best way to move forward?
The Crimson Tide plan on playing a full regular-season schedule with an opening game against the USC Trojans. Parts of the country are reacting differently to this outbreak and some are returning sooner than others. While Alabama thought they were in the clear, that was not the case.
Schools in California have a bigger issue. Los Angeles County is in a stay at home order through Labor Day most likely and several schools in the area are still working on how a 2020 Football Season will play out. Fresno State had plans to play, but now those plans may be on hold as communication from the school have gone silent.
Despite the Pac-12 announcing the June 15th date, there may be other areas of Pac-12 Country that will not be ready to return to campus. The timeline is starting to wind down to the start of the season and knowing the Fall Camp takes about six weeks to the August 29th start of the season, the clock is ticking.
The SEC cleared student-athletes to return to campus on June 8th, two days from now for workouts leading up to the season. As they prepared is when the virus came into play. Of course, every conference, including the Pac-12 will have testing throughout. The Conference of Champions will test every two weeks. The medical supplies will be provided locally by McKenzie Willamette Medical Center.