The National Junior College Athletic Association is expected to make the announcement on Monday.
There will be no JUCO football this fall.
On Sunday, The Athletic reported that the National Junior College Athletic Association is expected announce on Monday that the football season will take place in the fall.
From Max Olson:
“Teams would play up to eight games with preseason practices beginning on March 1 and the regular season beginning at the end of March and extending through the end of May.
NJCAA president and CEO Dr. Christopher Parker and the NJCAA’s presidential advisory council announced their recommendation to move the majority of its sports to spring seasons on Thursday. The NJCAA board of regents will meet Monday to determine the official plan. Parker confirmed to The Athletic that an eight-game spring football schedule is “the direction it would be heading in.”
“We would like to play football this fall,” Parker said. “But I think from a national perspective, moving it is probably the right decision holistically.”
Just this week, the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they will play conference-only schedules while the Ivy League has cancelled all sporting events through January 1.
This will make a huge impact in recruiting for FBS teams as schools constantly sign players from JUCO schools. Coaches will now not have a chance to further evaluate players on the field, something that has already been limited due to the dead period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many mid-year prospects have already been evaluated and offered and committed before the fall season based on their freshman season,” Hughes said. “What it changes is those mid-year December graduates who are evaluated on the fall season performance and who are not no-brainers going into the fall season but develop into a FBS players during the fall, are signed in December, are able to come into an FBS program in January and contribute or start or provide depth right away going into spring ball.”
