Michigan Football: Why a spring season just isn’t that simple

There are reports that the Big Ten could cancel the season and play in the spring, but for Michigan football and others, that won’t be easy.

Just days after Michigan football and the rest of the Big Ten Conference were given a revised schedule for the 2020 season, there is talk again of the season being canceled.

And this time, it feels like more of a when and not if scenario, as Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported the Big Ten was likely to cancel the fall season, including football.

Here’s part of his reporting from Sunday on the topic:

"“Sources told Yahoo Sports that the league’s presidents and chancellors met on Sunday to discuss the future of the 2020 football season and the league’s fall sports for the second consecutive day. Sunday night ended with an expectation that the season will be canceled in the upcoming days. Commissioner Kevin Warren went so far as to instruct the programs to essentially go light in practices on Monday.”"

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, who is in his first year on the job, also prefers a spring season according to the Detroit Free Press. And even when the Big Ten released its schedule this past week, it made clear that was no guarantee of a season.

Yet, you have to wonder, what’s happened in the last few days to suddenly change things so drastically?

Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News asked that question in a column and makes some pretty good points. Here’s part of what he wrote on the idea of pushing forward with a season:

"“The tough call is to wait a bit longer, to keep testing and learning. I’d make the tough call, for now, and push ahead. I don’t quite understand the rush to finality. More and more players are publicly pleading to play, amid only scattered virus outbreaks inside programs. Schedules were revised and protocols put in place precisely for this scenario, if a delay was necessary.”"

It’s understandable that things change quickly. With COVID-19, we have learned that’s the case. But just saying the season will be pushed to the spring is a sugarcoat. It will be tough to do.

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For starters, when does the season begin? Maybe if it starts in January or February, but if the NFL draft remains in April or May, that will absolutely impact the season.

Plenty of players would stay to prove themselves, but others would probably opt-out for safety and draft training.

Plus do NFL teams want their rookies starting training camp just months after completing a season, even a shortened one? Not likely.

So can college football and the NFL work together to push back the start of the 2021 season? Because if not, a spring season is probably folly. At least in a sense of it being a “normal” season.

Even so, it’s asking a lot of kids to play an eight or 10 or whatever-game season in the spring, only to turnaround and play a full season with about half of the normal preparation time.

And if any of these conference leaders are paying attention, which is a BIG IF, the players want to play and Michigan football’s own Hunter Reynolds has been active in the #WeWantToPlay movement.

The movement includes some of the top players in the country, such as Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. It’s trending on social media and it’s a reminder that these decisions shouldn’t be made lightly or hastily.

Michigan football’s offensive coordinator even got in the mix Monday morning, voicing his support, as did Bob Shoop, the new safties coach.

Wojnowski makes the case in his column that the Big Ten should simply follow the protocols it has in place and delay things if necessary. And I tend to agree. That doesn’t mean the season won’t get called off, it just means it won’t happen until down the road.

If it’s not safe, it’s not safe and that’s understandable. But would a spring season be any better? Or safer?

I’m skeptical and that also means when I hear talk of a spring season, it’s another step on the path towards total cancellation of football in 2020.