Tag: Power 5 COVID update

With Big Ten postponing its season, could Justin Fields consider a return to UGA?

With the Big Ten and PAC-12 postponing their seasons, could we see Ohio State QB Justin Fields make a return to Georgia football?

[jwplayer hWTRmkgE-er0jUifI]

The Big Ten announced its decision to postpone all fall sports according to their official website. The Big Ten is the first Power Five conference to make this decision.

The Big Ten Conference announced the postponement of the 2020-21 fall sports season, including all regular-season contests and Big Ten Championships and Tournaments, due to ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just minutes after, the PAC-12 also made the decision to postpone its 2020 season.

Former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields, who transferred to Ohio State after his freshman season at UGA, has been a big advocate of letting the players play this season.

The Big Ten’s star quarterback will now have to wait until at least the spring to play football this year at Ohio State.

Fields expressed his distaste in the conference’s decision on Tuesday afternoon via Twitter.

With the SEC still set to have their season (for now), experts have already been speculating the potential of seeing Fields transfer back to UGA.  This is a long shot, but Georgia beat writer for Athens Banner-Herald Marc Weiszer reminded everyone that then OC James Coley and head coach Kirby Smart told Fields he would always have a sport at Georgia.

Fields is a Kennesaw, GA native and was likely entering the final year of his college career before heading to the NFL Draft.  If the SEC keeps its season alive, Georgia would most likely be the No.1 landing spot for Fields, should he transfer.

Fields had an incredible sophomore season at Ohio State, throwing for 3,273 yards, 41 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions.  He was a Heisman Trophy finalist and made it to the College Football Playoff, losing by six to the Clemson Tigers in the semifinals.

Georgia already has two transfer quarterbacks in Jamie Newman and J.T. Daniels, but the addition of a Heisman finalist definitely wouldn’t hurt.  There are no reports of Fields actually making the switch back to Georgia, just speculations.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey shares thoughts on 2020 college football season

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey shares his thoughts on the 2020 college football season on the Dan Patrick Show.

With COVID-19 threatening the fate of college football, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey took to the Dan Patrick Show Tuesday morning to share his thoughts on the SEC’s 2020 football season.

“We have a start date… I’d be encouraged by that. … We have a schedule… I’d be encouraged by that. … We’re still here today. On Sunday, if I read social media I would have thought (it was over),” Sankey said on the show.

Sankey was asked about his feelings in regards to how likely SEC football will be played in the fall.

“It is a roller coaster ride,” said Sankey. “Today is probably better. We have made decisions to avoid some of the time pressures that I sense others are feeling.”

With the Big Ten postponing all fall sports (including football), other conferences have now felt heavy pressure to follow suit.  Sankey explained how the SEC has been preparing for their season differently than other Power 5 conferences.

“We’ve not had our players in helmets and pads for full practices,” he said. “We’ve spread our pre-season preparation out. We have moved our kickoff back to allow universities to get back to kind of a normal fall semester order, and some time to have things settle out.”

On the matter of possibly adopting a non-SEC team into the SEC for the season, Sankey replied: “…that’s not quite practical.”

“I felt good on Friday, and then a little tumult over the weekend,” said Sankey on his outlook for the season. “We are going to keep working to see if we can provide opportunities for student-athletes to compete.”

“Every day we learn a little bit more. It is not simply going to be a guiding moment if another conference makes a decision, but a piece of information a lot this journey.”

Sankey said it could be possible, but is unlikely the SEC would play on their own in 2020.

“I don’t think that is the right direction really. Could we? Certainly … We could, if that were the circumstance, operate on our own. I am not sure that’s the wisest direction.”

There is a lot up in the air surrounding this decision, as more and more will unravel in the coming weeks.  From the looks of it, Sankey and the SEC leaders will do everything in their power to have football in 2020, but nothing is guaranteed.

SEC, Georgia still optimistic on playing football in 2020

The Southeastern Conference is still optimistic on playing football in 2020, following the news of the Big Ten suspending all fall sports.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the Big Ten elected to cancel all fall sports in 2020, that including the college football season.

The Big Ten has voted to cancel the 2020 college football season in a historic move that stems from concerns related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, multiple people with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the Free Press.

The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the decision. A formal announcement is expected to Tuesday, the sources said.

The presidents voted, 12-2, Sunday to end the fall sports in the conference.

ESPN college football insider Kirk Herbstreit cleared up reports coming out Monday by saying the conference will be delaying the season start, not cancelling it completely.

With news of a Power 5 conference halting the start of the 2020 season, it has felt as though the remaining four (SEC, ACC, PAC-12, Big 12) would soon follow.  Now, that might not be the case.

SEC leaders, who like the Big Ten leaders also met over a digital conference call on Monday, seemed to have a more positive outlook on the season starting up.

Commissioner of the SEC, Greg Sankey, released an optimistic statement via Twitter on Monday saying: “Can we play? I don’t know. We haven’t stopped trying.”

“I’ll just say I think Greg Sankey’s comment is spot on,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said Monday. “His statement says it all, and I certainly stand by it. It summarizes where we all stand.”

Georgia athletic employees made their return to the offices this Monday, still set for the delayed 10-game start date of September 26th.  Reports seem as though the ACC and SEC will work together in doing everything in their power to have a season in 2020.  A number of the two conferences biggest stars, including Clemson’s quarterback Trevor Lawrence, took to their platforms saying they want to play.

Lawrence hit on the fact that America is already not following COVID-19 guidelines, as well as many student athletes “coming from situations that are not good for them/their future and having to go back to that.”

“…Medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they were to contract COVID-19.” said Lawrence. “…Football is a safe haven for so many people.”

The University of Georgia is set to return to in-person instruction starting August 20th.  Nothing is set in stone for the remaining Power 5 conferences, but there will be a lot of news released in the upcoming weeks regarding the fate of the 2020 college football season.