Gamecocks, Clemson begin mandatory football workouts. What that means amid uncertainty
There is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming college football season, if there’s a season at all. But as administrators and officials continue to plan ahead during the coronavirus pandemic, teams are moving forward.
Schools around the country, including South Carolina and Clemson, began mandatory workouts on Monday. Teams had been holding what were considered voluntary workouts since early June.
The change permits schools to conduct up to eight hours of mandatory weight training, conditioning and film review per week from July 13-23. No more than two of those hours can be spent on film review — Clemson is not yet requiring any mandatory film review, a school official told The State.
South Carolina is using two hours for film and the other six for conditioning, a school spokesperson said. The players and coaches had already been meeting through much of the offseason via Zoom video calls, in part to make up for the loss of spring practices across the country. The school also had more than 100 players already on campus going through voluntary work.
“It’s been great,” fourth-year Gamecocks quarterback Jay Urich said Monday. “We’re working hard, focusing on what we need to focus on. Really try to have the leadership be able to push for working hard and grinding and keeping football a priority because we need to be ready for whenever things get going.”
While teams are holding workouts, they are not holding practices. Coaches are not allowed at the workouts, which consist of strength and conditioning and some field work. Both South Carolina and Clemson are holding workouts in small groups to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
The workouts, for the most part, look the same as what’s been happening on campus since June. One subtle change: Colleges can promote scenes from mandatory workouts through social media, something South Carolina did Monday by sharing several images of football players during strength and conditioning.
Clemson has had 47 student-athletes test positive for COVID-19 thus far, with at least 37 of those being football players. Clemson has also had six staff members test positive for the coronavirus. South Carolina has not released any numbers related to testing.
The Big 10 and PAC 12 conferences have moved to conference-only seasons for 2020, while the other Power 5 schools have yet to announce their plans.
SEC athletic directors met in Birmingham, Alabama on Monday to discuss the upcoming college football season and the fall sports calendar. Among the topics discussed, according a statement from the SEC, were “possible scheduling options for holding athletic competition in the fall of 2020, and “game management best practices for ensuring a healthy environment at athletics events for student-athletes, coaches, officials, staff and fans.”
Monday’s gathering was the first in-person meeting of the conference athletics directors since the SEC men’s basketball tournament in Nashville in March.
“It is clear that current circumstances related to COVID-19 must improve and we will continue to closely monitor developments around the virus on a daily basis,” commissioner Greg Sankey said in the statement. “In the coming weeks we will continue to meet regularly with campus leaders via videoconferences and gather relevant information while guided by medical advisors. We believe that late July will provide the best clarity for making the important decisions ahead of us.”
The ACC announced Friday that it is anticipating a decision on fall sports also coming in late July.
Teams will stay in this phase of workouts until July 24. Beginning then through Aug. 6, they may conduct up to 20 hours of countable athletically related activities per week, which will include walk-throughs. Official preseason practices would begin in August.
As the 2020 schedules stand now, the Gamecocks kick off the season Sept. 5 against Coastal Carolina. Clemson is set to open on the road Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
