Indiana Football Rethinking the Big Picture of Spring Practice
/
Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)
There is no question that the spring practice period is an important jumpstart to the college football season. One can simply compare the progression of a freshman player that was able to enroll early to one who remained in high school and the difference will jump off the page.
However, exactly how these offseason practices should be conducted is being discussed, both by higher forces in the college football world and by individual coaching staffs. This offseason, Indiana has chosen to switch up how they are doing things a bit.
“I think, as a whole, college football, I know it has been a big emphasis in a lot of the committees that we have had and head coaches meetings, just trying to look at the big picture and the calendar from start to finish,” said Tom Allen on Monday. “I know the NFL is doing the same thing in evaluating fall camp and how that looks, and spring football and how that looks, and how we train and the hitting and pounding on the body.”
How the body reacts to contact is the biggest point of discussion: finding a balance between enough contact practice that quality of play does not diminish, but not too much that unnecessary injuries are sustained months out from the college football season. This does not even include the long-term health risks of repeated contact.
The NCAA already has the following rules established regarding spring practices:
Practices can be conducted over a 34-day period with 20 hours per week of unrestricted activities. Players must receive one day off per week.
15 on-field practice sessions may be held, with no more than 12 involving contact.
Full contact may not occur until the third practice.
Eight of the 12 contact practices can involve tackling, and no more than three of those eight may be devoted to 11-on-11 scrimmages.
During non-contact practice sessions, headgear may be worn.
Two additional proposals were recommended to the Division I Football Oversight Committee earlier this year, effective for 2022. One would limit full contact (tackling to the ground) to no more than 75 minutes in any one practice period that does not involve a scrimmage, while the other would prohibit practice sessions that include full contact from occurring on consecutive days. The findings were unanimously supported.
“So, we are probably going to evaluate that throughout this spring and talk to some programs that have some different methods or utilizing these 15 days,” said Allen.
Players like Dasan McCullough, Devon Matthews, David Ellis, Randy Holtz, and Tiawan Mullen have all already been announced as being purposefully limited this spring in precaution of nagging injuries. They are nothing to worry about long term, but simply not worth the risk for more these more experienced players.
“We had three practices prior to spring break, where we have usually had four in the past. We went ahead and had a scrimmage on Saturday. It wasn't a full scrimmage; it was probably half of the time spent in that mode to create some game-like situations. Then, two in shells and the one Saturday was in full pads. I like the flow we are in as we are making some adjustments.”
It is just another example of how football is adapting to the modern game.
“I am really encouraged by the progress we are making here this spring and we have practice number seven in the morning. We just want to continue to progress and get better as we progress through each one of these practices.”