The precarious state of the 2020 college football season has evoked a few possible permutations of an adjusted timeframe.
If COVID-19 concerns force the season to be delayed, one option that has been floated is moving the start all the way into early 2021 with a postseason sometime in the spring.
In that scenario, the list of logistics to sort through is endless. Of particular importance is finding adequate recovery time between the end of the season and the start of the normal 2021 season. The abbreviated window would put creative pressure on strength and conditioning coaches across the country.
Matt Balis, Notre Dame’s director of football performance, admitted as much, but didn’t offer any opposition to the idea.
“That would be tough,” Balis said via Zoom. “You’d have to know exactly when the season would end. You’d have to make sure the guys have ample time for recovery. You have to make sure you have time to train them again before the season would start.
“In that model, recovering first and having time to strength train after that spring season came, you’d certainly need that.”
As of now, there are no formal plans to move the season back four-plus months. The idea, though, has some credibility among athletic directors. A survey of more than 100 Football Bowl Subdivision athletics directors done by Stadium’s Brett McMurphy revealed 14 percent of them see the season starting in 2021 as a full 12-game schedule or reduced to conference games only.
Either way, it’s not clear when in the spring the delayed season would end. But working backward from a scheduled start to 2021 gives some guidelines. Fall camp starts in early August. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Notre Dame needs to be able to start workouts in early July to reach safe conditioning level for camp. In a normal year, it’s ideally longer. Summer workouts typically start in early June.
“You’d need at least eight weeks to make sure the guys are fully prepared,” Balis said.
That’s not including recovery time from the first season.
“With spring football, you have that model where the guys get time off, get a chance to get away,” Balis said. “I don’t know how close it would be to that, but having a season would certainly be more intense. You have to have at least that recovery or more to make sure the guys can come back.
“Then you have to have a really good strength and conditioning offseason. You wouldn’t want to abbreviate that.”
All Notre Dame classes are online only through July 6. The university will make a decision on the rest of the summer May 15. If classes remain online, it’s unlikely football would be allowed to come back to start workouts in July, thus increasing the likelihood of a delayed season.
Balis’ NFL Draft Impact
Notre Dame is projected to have six or seven players selected in the this year’s NFL Draft, which starts Thursday night. For Balis, it represents the first class of players he worked with for at least three years. Tight end Cole Kmet, expected by many analysts to be the first Notre Dame player taken, only trained under Balis since he arrived in 2017.
Balis came to Notre Dame along with a flood of new assistants and two fresh coordinators after Notre Dame’s 4-8 2016 season. At the time, expected 2020 draftees Chase Claypool, Julian Okwara, Khalid Kareem and Troy Pride Jr. had just completed their true freshman seasons. So had Jalen Elliott, who has a chance to be a late-round pick. Projected day-three pick Alohi Gilman arrived later that offseason as a transfer from Navy.
Now, they’re on the cusp of pro careers. For Balis, this weekend will be like sending an oldest son off to college.
Notre Dame had eventual 2018 first-round picks Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey when Balis arrived, plus wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, who was selected later in the same draft.
“Certainly there was a lot of talent,” Balis said.
Since then, Notre Dame’s draft output has increased. If the Irish have six players taken this weekend, it’ll be the first time since 2013-14 where they produced at least six draft picks in consecutive years.
“Our speed, we’re getting faster as a team,” Balis said. “The guys coach Kelly and the staff are bringing in make you look better. Genetics play a big part of that, but certainly we’re faster and more explosive, twitchier. And we have ways to measure those things.”
This year’s NFL Combine was a showcase for a few of his pupils. Claypool shined brightest, running a 4.42 40-yard dash at 6-4 and 238 pounds. Gilman, despite subpar jumping numbers, placed in the top six among safeties in the three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle and 40. Asked about the reflection of those numbers on his strength program, Balis declined to take much credit.
“Their work ethic and care factor to train at a level that puts them in a position to do great things on the field is incredible,” Balis said. “Anytime you have a chance to work with guys who have that kind of want and grit, it makes for a successful situation.”
In 2019, Balis' program made its combine mark too. Wide receiver Miles Boykin posted a Claypool-esque combine, running a 4.42 40, posting a 43.5-inch vertical jump and a 140-inch broad jump. He placed in the 99th percentile of SPARQ scores.
Elsewhere, Defensive tackle Jerry Tillery's top-10 percent places at his position in the 40 (4.93) and broad jump (115), among other events, helped him become a first-round pick. Linebacker Drue Tranquill bench-pressed 225 pounds 31 times, tops at his position despite being undersized for it at 6-foot-2 and 234 pounds.
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