Six-Week Plan Was Supposed To Start Sunday, Now On Hold
Sunday was supposed to be the start of something special for North Carolina’s football team. The Tar Heels, who missed all of spring practice, were going to begin the slow process toward gridiron normalcy launching the NCAA-approved six-week practice plan put in place just last month.
But, after the school announced Wednesday that 37 of 429 COVID-19 tests administered throughout the athletic department were positive, it’s suspending voluntary workouts for a week, so the coach-mandated phase slated to begin Sunday will be put on hold for at least several days. Note, the positive tests include athletes, coaches and administrators, it’s not just relegated to football.
Mack Brown’s program, however, is feeling an immediate effect.
“As a precaution, our football team will pause voluntary workouts for at least a week and will resume at a date to be determined,” the release states. It also states that anyone who tests positive must self-quarantine for 14 days.
The COVID-19 pandemic has derailed what was previously routine, including how college football players prepare for the season during the summer months and into fall camp.
But last month, the NCAA approved a six-week plan allowing coaching staffs to apply mandates beginning July 12, giving programs two-plus additional weeks from the usual process.
It allows them to mandate for each player eight hours of work per seven-day cycle through July 22. The plan limits the players to no more two hours a day and it includes weight training, conditioning and virtual meetings.
The players returned to Chapel Hill in four phases concluding June 29 when the final group arrived. They have been involved in voluntary workouts and player-led practices. Initially, Sunday was the start of the first phase of the six-week plan.
“They've (NCAA) given us a roadmap,” Brown said after the plan was announced. “There's no playbook for all the things we've been going through for the last (several) months.”
Getting any extra practice time from the usual four weeks is especially important for the Tar Heels, because they held no spring practices. Along with Virginia Tech and Virginia in the ACC, UNC scheduled a later start to the spring, but the pandemic hit before any of those teams could get onto the field.
“It was crazy,” said UNC wide receiver Beau Corrales, a native of Texas. “I left for spring break thinking I was going to be back in a week and going right into spring ball, and then one thing turned into another and we’re gone for three months.”
Clemson held the most spring practices among ACC teams, getting in nine before shutting down. The total ACC count: Clemson 9; Louisville 7; Wake Forest 5; Georgia Tech 5; NC State 5; Boston College 4; Miami 4; Duke 3; Pittsburgh 3; Florida State 3; Syracuse 3 and UNC, UVA and Virginia Tech 0 each.
As for the Tar Heels’ nonconference opponents, UConn held all 15 practices, concluding March 6, JMU held five practices, UCF practiced four times and Auburn did not practice.
Coming off a 7-6 season in which each loss was by a touchdown or less and that the Heels won their final three games by a combined score of 152-30, they enter the 2020 campaign with high expectations. Ten starters return on offense and the defense, though a bit inexperienced up front, is loaded elsewhere. Carolina could be the favorite to win the ACC’s Coastal Division.
Sophomore quarterback Sam Howell and the Heels don’t want to miss out on the opportunity this season presents, though there have been times it appeared there may not be a season. Now might be another of those occasions, as the recent upticks in positive testing may still throw a wrench into whether or not there’s a season or could perhaps force a tweaking of the schedule.
The players, naturally, want to play.
“We’re really excited for this year, we’ve got a lot of momentum building off of last year,” Howell said. “This definitely isn’t a season we wanted to miss.”
Depending on when they return to workouts, the Tar Heels are slated to move into an enhanced training schedule July 23 through Aug. 5. That will include 20 hours a week and no more than four in a given day. The breakdown: eight hours for conditioning and weight training, six hours for meetings and film study, and six hours for team walk-throughs which may include use of a football.
They must be given two days off during the 14-day period.
Since UNC opens the season Friday, Sept. 4 at Central Florida, the Tar Heels can officially start fall camp Aug. 6 when most of the nation will begin Aug. 7. They will have the standard 29 allowable practices from the start of preseason practice to the opener.