In the past week, there have finally been discussions and actions taken place by the South Eastern Conference to try and gauge when it will appropriate for student athletes to return to athletic activities.
The SEC has already announced its intentions to vote on whether players can return to campus on June 1 or June 15.
It has also comprised a medical task force of 14 doctors from all 14 teams in the conference to try help guide the conference in the right direction in order to ensure the safety of the players.
As of the moment, it is still unclear whether the vote has already taken place, meaning there is a chance players need to wait a little longer in order to get back to their universities.
There could be people still out there who believe that a delay on the season is still the best option.
But former Alabama wide receiver and current training expert at The Warehouse Performance Institute, Mike McCoy firmly believes that the season needs to start back up as soon as it can.
“Me being in the strength and conditioning profession, they really need to get the ball rolling as early as June,” said McCoy on the In My Own Words podcast last week. “I don’t know the full details or the full extent of when those guys will be able to report, but you need June (and) July to prepare because it’s such a long football season.
“That is the only uphold. So, I don’t think they could delay it but if anything they may need to extend the strength and conditioning portion an extra week. And people just misconstrue, like well, how do you do that as just as far as that weight room? Well that weight room keeps you healthy, that weight room keeps you from pulling hamstrings, that weight room keeps you away from that shoulder popping out of place.
“It’s a lot that goes into that weight room. You can’t rush it. It’s like, you can’t put a pot roast in the microwave, it ain’t gonna happen. It’s a long slow process. Those eight weeks are crucial because think about it, you play 14, 15 weeks when you in the national. Really longer than that because if you go to the national championship you have three or four weeks before you play your game so it’s almost extended out like an NFL season.”
McCoy, who has worked with the likes of Trent Richardson, Mohammed Sanu, Blake Sims, Alfred Morris and Courtney Upshaw, fully understands the importance of building up these athletes ahead of the season.
In 2019 Alabama lost a number of key players due to injuries which included both starting middle linebackers Dylan Moses and Joshua McMillon, defensive lineman LaBryan Ray, five start freshman running back Trey Sanders and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Alabama and the other SEC teams will be looking to have their players return to campus for this very reason.
But as of right now, things are out of their hands.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
