I want to be one hundred percent honest in saying that the issue brought up by Wisconsin CB Faion Hicks surrounding playing in the spring is one I had not thought of until a good friend of mine pointed it out a few months back. That issue revolves around the question of if players can put their bodies through two calendar years at the highest levels of football?
Having been someone who grew up as a basketball player, and never played the game of football, the physical toll of the game is something I can only hear second hand. Luckily, Alec Simpson, one of my best childhood friends and former D1 football LB at the University of Nevada, pointed out the issue that Hicks brought up on his Twitter shortly after the Big Ten news was announced. What Alec told me a few months back was that at his position, LB, there was absolutely no chance he could safely play two seasons in a calendar year at the division one level. His body could not take that kind of toll. That is the exact takeaway that Hicks had just minutes ago after the news was announced.
Ain’t no way we play in the spring then turn around and play in the fall. Our bodies won’t last, stop getting people hopes up.
— Faion Hicks (@Faion_Hicks) August 11, 2020
The Big Ten did state that they would attempt to push football to the spring, but there does not feel like much a point in even starting to look at that option. Forget the possibility that the virus is still raging, forget the issues with scheduling, and forget players sitting out because of the NFL. Can most players even go through two seasons in that time frame? The answer from my friend Alec and from Hicks was a resounding no.