The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 25 said. "We know that, from a capacity stand- point in our stadium. Financially, it will be a much different year. We continue to work on budget models, refining it, reducing ex- penses. There are a lot of unknowns right now." That's because the goose that laid the golden financial egg for college athletics might still find itself in quarantine this fall. Slowly, and unsteadily, football is mak- ing moves toward preparing for a season. Michigan players went through an exhaus- tive process of screening even to reach sum- mer workouts. Others started, then stopped. At Houston, positive tests for COVID-19 on a half-dozen Cougars led to the shutdown of workouts. Testing revealing 28 Clemson athletes (in- cluding several football players) came up positive created some doubt about how much, how soon in that ACC stronghold. Jansen isn't surprised that the move to- ward a football season brings with it some audibles. "When we start testing more, you're going to find more positive results," he said. "If we all went into it saying, you know what, we don't expect anybody to test positive, that's a foolish way to go into it. "As long as there's not a knee-jerk reac- tion in regard to, 'Hey, we've got this many, we're going to shut things down again.' Let's go ahead and take a look at how many we have, what's the protocol in place for those that test positive? Where are we going to quarantine them? How are we going to get the medical services? "Are they symptomatic? Are they asymp- tomatic? That's where we are right now. We're going to see some fits and starts. There will be question marks. But we're going to continue to move in a positive direction." The Path Forward The NCAA took a big step on June 17 toward opening the door for college football. Its Division I Council approved a four-phase plan put forth by the NCAA College Foot- ball Oversight Committee to fashion a sum- mer kickoff of activities. The plan plays out as follows: • June 1-25, players participate in volun- tary and virtual non-physical activities. • July 13 and later, team workouts involv- ing conditioning, weight training and film review. • July 24 and later, 20 hours per week of walk-throughs and team meetings are allowed. • Aug. 7 onward, preseason practice begins. Michigan football players went through an intensive process just to qualify for the summer conditioning sessions. Manuel made clear that player safety remains a top priority in Ann Arbor. "We are pleased to start the process of welcoming student-athletes back to our cam- pus through a medical and public health- informed protocol and plan," Manuel said. "We continue to take the utmost care to en- sure that all student-athletes and staff return to a safe and healthy environment. "Our protocols and plans have been devel- oped by medical experts from across U-M's campus, who have collaborated with offi- cials at the local, state and national levels. I appreciate the contributions and compre- hensive efforts across so many groups and in coordination with the Big Ten Conference and peers across the NCAA." Darryl Conway, senior associate AD and Michigan's chief health & welfare officer, described the screening process developed for U-M athletes. The 14-day procedure involved athletes answering texts every morning regarding Although U-M's opener at Washington appears to be in jeopardy, The Big House seems likely to host football games in 2020. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL