Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour has revealed the timeline for college football to start amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Ben Jones, Barbour said Thursday that programs need 60 days prior to the first snap of the season to prepare. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Anything less than 60 days could raise health and safety concerns.
Penn State AD Sandy Barbour says a 60 day window is what they think they need to ramp up for football and not have health concerns relative to playing the game.
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) April 2, 2020
Penn State’s first game is September 5th, a 60 day window would be July 7th. Big Ten has currently suspended (everything) until May 4th, so about a 64 day window of additional delays to fit that schedule.
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) April 2, 2020
This really isn’t a huge surprise to anybody reading this. If you’ve been following along, then you’d know the start of July has always been the target date.
We just now have a major athletic director on the record saying that’s what the plan is. Programs need 60 days, and that means they have to be training by July.
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Given the fact the whole country has come to a grinding halt for the foreseeable future, I’m not sure sports will be going again by July.
We don’t even know if college campuses will be open in September. Coronavirus decimated March Madness and sports over the course of a couple days.
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In early March, I was thinking about gambling and drinking beers. The virus snatched it away from us like it was nothing.
Don’t think for one second that it can’t come for football or the fall academic semester. At this point, coronavirus has proven that nothing is off limits.
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Let’s hope by the time July 1 rolls around, we’re sitting here talking about depth chart battles. If not, then you’re going to see people melt down in a fashion you didn’t even know was possible, and I’ll be leading the pack.
Never forget who is the true King in the North when it comes to college football. pic.twitter.com/vtbKyAPdYe
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) August 10, 2019