Michigan Football won’t hold spring practices, impacting QB battle

The Big Ten announced another change due to the COVID-19 outbreak and now Michigan football, as well as others, won’t hold spring football practice.

It didn’t take long on Thursday to realize that just about every major sporting event in the United State was going to be cancelled or postponed soon enough. But it wasn’t entirely clear what that meant in terms of spring ball for Michigan football or any other program.

Well on Friday, at least in Big Ten country, we got some clarity as the conference suspended all athletic activities until April 6 in a statement that was released. That means there will be no spring football for the Wolverines, although LSU is still planning on having spring football, at least for now.

Here’s what the league put out:

"“The Big Ten Conference will use this time to work with the appropriate medical experts and institutional leadership to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic,” a statement read. “The main priority of the Big Ten Conference continues to be the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty, fans and media as we continue to monitor all developing and relevant information on the COVID-19 virus.”"

The truth is that spring football didn’t seem likely to happen anyway. All the games were called and recruiting, at least for programs like Michigan football and Ohio State has been canceled for the time being too. So this move makes sense and it could have a real impact on the Wolverines next fall in terms of the quarterback competition.

Obviously, the Michigan staff has a better insight into this competition than anyone else and they have a good idea of what they have in Joe Milton and Dylan McCaffrey. Put this would give each extended time with the No. 1 offense and a chance to show how they have improved from last season. Cade McNarama could also throw his hat into the ring.

Now, making that impression becomes harder to do and that probably gives McCaffrey an advantage. If all things are equal, Jim Harbaugh would likely give the nod to McCaffrey because of his experience. It just means Milton needs to be clearly better to get the call.

At any rate, we will have plenty of time to talk about the football season upcoming and as it looks now, that’s the next time we will be watching college sports.