After a summer of meeting with coaches over Zoom, University of Idaho football players began walk-throughs and team meetings on July 24.
As the 2020 fall season creeps closer, student-athletes may now complete up to 20 hours of training per week, including the activities they had already been participating in this summer.
“We are excited that more official activities will be taking place in the near future,” UI Director of Athletic Communications Joe St. Pierre said.
Boise State University is accomplishing training in a similar manner to UI. BSU Associate Athletic Director Joe Nickell said the university’s football team had been doing voluntary strength training, conditioning, and conducting position meetings during the summer access window. Nickell was not able to provide any information on the details because coaches and staff were not allowed to attend those activities in person.
In June, the Division I Council approved a 2020 summer and preseason model for football which “balances COVID-19 precautions with acclimation,” according to the NCAA press release.
On June 1, student-athletes were allowed to begin voluntary physical and virtual activities which allowed them to stay in touch with coaches throughout the summer.
July 13 was the beginning of summer access for student-athletes, which included weight training, conditioning and film review, though no athlete could spend more than eight hours per week on these activities combined. \ The football season has moved to the next stage of summer access as teams prepare to begin preseason practice.
Practices will begin Aug. 7, according to the 2020 preseason model approved in June.
“These first two weeks (before official preseason begins), I compare it to what we used to call OTAs in the year I was in the NFL. You get to have a period of agility, you get to have the weight room and you get to have a walk-through,” UI Head Coach Paul Petrino said.
Petrino said the UI football team will most likely not have a game during the first week of the season, but he hopes to fill the spots from other canceled games soon.
While the season being canceled is a possibility, Petrino said there have been conversations about moving the season to the spring.
“(Not having football games) would hurt a ton. It would hurt the whole country,” Petrino said. “If there is no football, it would really hurt all of the athletic departments in the country.”
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected]