Notre Dame to resume in-person classes next week

In what University president John Jenkins called one of Notre Dame’s greatest comebacks the University is set to return to in-person classes

A week and a half ago the University of Notre Dame was on the brink of closing their campus and sending all of their students home after a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.

“Together, we are writing one of the great comebacks in Notre Dame history” said Rev. John Jenkins, President of the University of Notre Dame on Friday morning.

This comes after COVID-19 testing has shown a steady decline of the virus being present on campus, Friday seeing just 2.4% of tests comeback positive.

The full release from the University of Notre Dame can be found here. 

Notre Dame returns to classes Monday

The University of Notre Dame has officially reopened as classes for the fall semester of 2020 began today.

After a weekend of rumors and speculation about college football taking place or not taking place in 2020, some colleges and universities are officially opening their doors to students this week.

The University of Notre Dame is one such institution as they begin the new school year with their fall semester today.  Students will have classes for fall term straight through until Thanksgiving and then be on break until January 11, 2021.

With classes getting going and”normalcy” somewhat being returned to in that sense, we’d like to wish the best to all students, faculty and staff in what will undoubtedly be an incredibly strange academic year

Notre Dame’s Most Recent Visitor Chooses Rival

The most recent recruit to visit Notre Dame chose elsewhere on Monday. Find out where Tristan Bounds is headed!

Notre Dame offered a scholarship to offensive tackle Tristan Bounds on May 1 and Bounds took it upon himself to make a few college visits by finding a loophole in the instituted NCAA dead period.

Now Bounds has made up his mind and he won’t be attending college at Notre Dame but instead to a nearby rival who isn’t on the schedule for over another decade.

Bounds is rated as a three-star offensive tackle and chose Michigan over offers from Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina State, Nebraska and Texas who were just a handful of the 25 offers he receieved.

Michigan now has 17 commitments to their 2021 recruiting class that is rated the sixth best in the nation according to 247Sports.

Notre Dame remains sitting with 10 commitments in their ’21 class, two of which play on the offensive line.

Notre Dame President Non-Committal About Football in 2020

Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins addressed the school’s plan to open up August 10 and shared his thoughts of football in 2020.

The University of Notre Dame created quite the stir nationwide on Monday when they announced that the school would welcome back students to campus in August.

It didn’t come without plenty of questions, however.  To give more clarity on Notre Dame’s plan to return students to campus, why the adjusted schedule and if there will be football this fall, Notre Dame President, Father John Jenkins appeared on NBC’s TODAY Show Tuesday to help give more clarity.

[protected-iframe id=”a57633139808e681caeff27e3e8859e8-162776928-7793168″ info=”https://www.today.com/today/embedded-video/mmvo83630149553″ width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen=””]

Jenkins didn’t have all the answers, something he freely admitted and I’m sure the short “I don’t have all the details yet” won’t fly for a good amount of people but he did give a strong explanation as to why the schedule has been adjusted to have an extended break after Thanksgiving through New Years.

Jenkins non-commitment to football and sports being played in the fall is also somewhat surprising to me.  I wasn’t expecting a full “Games will be played and fans will be in the stands!” but Jenkins came off more reserved than I was thinking he would.

Hopefully it’s just Jenkins being cautious with words and trying to not have anything come back to bite him down the road.  After NCAA President Mark Emmert’s comments that sports wouldn’t be played if students weren’t on campus though, this is a good first step.

Georgia football Pro Day postponed amid coronavirus outbreak

Amid the growing concern over the spread of the coronavirus, Georgia football has postponed its Pro Day.

As a result of the growing concern over the spread of the coronavirus, Georgia has announced its Pro Day, which was to be held next Wednesday, has been postponed.

This announcement came shortly after the school also said that spring practice has been postponed. 

According to this tweet below, Georgia will host no spring football through at least March 30th.

That means the Pro Day and the Coaches Clinic will not take place. It’s unlikely that the coaches clinic will be rescheduled, though the Pro Day should be moved to a yet-to-be-determined date.

The Pro-Day turnout would have been underwhelming, as NFL teams are being cautious about sending scouts across the country to observe. Many NFL teams have already said they will be sending nobody.

Previously, the SEC suspended all on-campus and in-home recruiting for its member institutions.

With students scheduled to return to Athens from spring break on Monday, Georgia announced it will not hold classes for the next two weeks. Students have been asked by authorities to stay away from campus until Sunday March 29.

On Thursday, the NCAA cancelled all championships for the rest of the 2019-20 academic year, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

Georgia football postpones spring practice due to coronavirus

With nearly all sporting events in the United States suspended due to the threat of the Coronavirus, Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said Friday that the Bulldogs will not begin spring practice as originally scheduled. UGA was to begin …

With nearly all sporting events in the United States suspended due to the threat of the Coronavirus, Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said Friday that the Bulldogs will not begin spring practice as originally scheduled.

UGA was to begin spring practice on Tuesday, but McGarity told Athens radio station 960 that practices for football will be suspended for “weeks”.

“We’re following the guidance from the chancellors which said students are strongly encouraged to be off-campus,” McGarity said. “For us to be able to practice with that directive doesn’t make sense.

“So for this period of time, there will be no practices. We’ll just see where things stand after that two week period.”

In addition, with G-Day scheduled for April 18, it is appearing less likely the annual spring game will be played this year.

Previously, the SEC suspended all on-campus and in-home recruiting for its member institutions.

With students scheduled to return to Athens from spring break on Monday, Georgia announced it will not hold classes for the next two weeks. Students have been asked by authorities to stay away from campus until Sunday March 29.

On Thursday, the NCAA cancelled all championships for the rest of the 2019-20 academic year, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

Will Georgia football cancel G-Day due to coronavirus?

Is Georgia football going to cancel G-Day due to coronavirus?

With the Georgia campus largely empty this week as students are on spring break, the main concern for faculty and administrators is the possibility of eliminating in-person classes on account of the unfolding COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

With social distancing becoming necessary, it is possible the university could close for a period of time. In anticipation of this event, the University System of Georgia has produced an online training course called “Rapid Guide to Teaching Online.”

For the time being, however, the university has sent an email to all of its students, faculty and staff stating that the school is planning on resuming normal class operations on Monday, March 16th – the first day back from spring break.

Many schools across the nation have extended spring break and will do way with in-person classes temporarily. Washington, Stanford, Penn State, several Ivy League schools and others have already gone this route. Wednesday, the Florida Board of Governors declared that all public universities in Florida have been directed to transition all in-person classes to online platforms effective immediately, a precautionary step to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

With Georgia’s 15 days of spring practice to begin March 17, culminating with the annual G-Day Game on April 18, contingency plans are being made for the football team. Options include practicing in isolation and playing G-Day in an empty stadium or cancelling the spring season. G-Day, which has attracted huge crowds of up to 94,000 to Sanford Stadium in the Kirby Smart era, has become a tremendous recruiting tool for the Bulldogs. However, with some states, such as Ohio and Washington banning athletic events, it would not be a surprise to see the state of Georgia follow.

On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that March Madness, including the Final Four in April, would be played in empty stadiums. Less than 24 hours later, the Power 5 leagues cancelled their conference tournaments. Following suit were the American, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, MAC, America East, Big Sky and WAC.

After the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, it is increasingly more likely that Georgia will follow in the footsteps of other schools and cancel G-Day or play a controlled scrimmage without spectators.