It may not be on field practice, but it is definitely a start.
On Thursday the NCAA announced that it would be allowing all Division I schools up to eight hours of virtual “non-countable” activities per Patrick Engel.
These activities include film review, team meetings, chalk talk and more. Before this week teams were allowed just two hours per week of virtual activities.
With no spring football this season incoming freshman and new coaches were put at a significant disadvantage since they would not be able to interact with their new teams or learn the schemes and playbooks.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been suggesting alternative methods of trying to get the young players engaged and up to speed when the season comes around this fall. He has been pushing for the NCAA to grant teams two weeks of OTA’s ahead of fall camp to assist in the on field play.
“But one of the things that I’ve kind of tried to propose … was one of the things that we used to do when I was in the NFL is we had 14 days of OTA days in April and May before we had minicamp and it was just shorts and shirts and you could go out and teach players techniques,” said Saban during an Instagram live with ESPN’s Maria Taylor.
As of now the 2020-21 season is still set to begin on time this fall and each team will need as much as they can get to incorporate its new pieces.
*Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber only content!*
Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
