Michigan players participate in workouts after Big Ten postponed season
This was technically a voluntary workout, and still OK according to NCAA rules.
By Ashley Bastock / The Blade
Tue, 11 Aug 2020 23:31:13 GMT
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ANN ARBOR — After the Big Ten’s bombshell announcement on Tuesday afternoon that it would be postponing its football season and all other fall sports, Michigan players were still on the team’s practice field.
This was technically a voluntary workout, and still OK according to NCAA rules.
“We are allowed to hold voluntary practices, meetings, and strength and conditioning under the 20-hour rule through camp,” a team spokesman told The Blade. “This was communicated to our administration by the Big Ten.”
The clarification came after Michigan’s initial statement on the postponement of the season. In It, the athletic department said it was suspending “all athletic activities, including practices, effective immediately, until further notice.”
While the Wolverines continue to go through voluntary workouts, they do so with the shadow of the Big Ten’s unprecedented decision hanging over them. The conference became the first in the Power Five to announce it was postponing its football season — along with all other fall sports — after a vote from its presidents. In a press release, the Big Ten cited ongoing health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Big Ten Conference will continue to evaluate a number of options regarding these sports, including the possibility of competition in the spring,” the press release said. “Decisions regarding winter and spring sports will also continue to be evaluated.”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh released a statement following the announcement, expressing his disappointment but praising his players for the work they put in up to this point.
“Our student-athletes and coaches want to compete,” Harbaugh said. “They have committed, trained, and prepared their entire lives for this opportunity, and I know how much they’re disappointed at this time. I share in their disappointment today. We have shown over the weeks since returning to campus that we could meet the challenge and provide our student-athletes the opportunity of a fall football season.
“Our football team, our coaching staff, our support staff in Schembechler Hall have all stepped up, followed every rule, and done everything in their power magnificently to give all the opportunity to compete. I am extremely proud, thankful, and appreciative of our team and how they have conducted and represented our program and university.”
The Michigan coach also released a statement on Monday, a Hail Mary attempt advocating for a season that featured Michigan’s strong coronavirus testing numbers. Most notably, that included zero positive coronavirus tests out of the last 353 administered, and 11 total positive tests out of 893 administered since mid-June.
“I’m not advocating for football this fall, because of my passion or our players desire to play, but because of the facts accumulated over the last eight weeks since our players returned to campus on June 13,” Harbaugh wrote. “I am advocating on August 10 that this virus can be controlled and handled because of these facts.”
In Tuesday’s statement put out by the athletic department, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel called the move to postpone the season “unfortunate but necessary.”
“For the second time in five months, the Big Ten Conference made the unfortunate but necessary decision to postpone an athletic season in order to protect the health and well-being of our student-athletes, staff, and community members,” Manuel said. “As a result, all fall sport schedules have been postponed.
“This latest decision was reached after careful consideration and the grim knowledge that this pandemic continues to affect our country adversely. I am deeply saddened for our student-athletes and remain committed to our ongoing promise to provide them with a world-class education. We remain grateful to our global Michigan family for their unwavering support.”
University president Mark Schlissel also released a separate statement, in which he said he “fully support[s]” the decision of the Big Ten to postpone fall sports.
“There are too many poorly understood health and safety concerns unique to intercollegiate athletics to move forward with practices and competition at present — and the impact of extreme physical exertion on the health risk of COVID-19 has not been well-assessed,” Schlissel wrote.
“I join Athletic Director Warde Manuel and everyone at Michigan Athletics in expressing my empathy to all who were looking forward to competing, coaching, supporting, and cheering us on as members of the Wolverine family. I particularly feel badly for our student-athletes who gain so much from participation in their sports and are such outstanding representatives of our university. We will work hard to return them safely to competition.”