We can't say for sure that college football will happen as planned, but it's inching closer by the day. Louisville will welcome some athletes back to campus next week. Wyoming will resume voluntary workouts June 1--and the entire SEC could join them, depending on how the conference's presidents vote letter today. A number of coaching staffs across the country are back in the office.
The NCAA has already approved schools to bring their athletes back to campus on June 1, and Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger reports that discussions have evolved to a point where a skeleton schedule has emerged that would allow the season to begin on time.
According to the report, a preliminary schedule would look something like this:
-- Early July: Teams allowed to begin mandatory workouts
-- Mid-to-late July: A 6-week pre-season program, with two weeks of NFL-style OTA workouts and four weeks of traditional preseason camp.
Teams that play in Week 0 could begin OTAs on July 18. Everyone else could begin July 25.
Since re-opening is handled on a state-by-state basis, it's unlikely that all 130 FBS schools will be on the same return-to-play timeline.
In the event not everyone's ready to play by Week 1, the associated scheduling issues are expected to be handled on a conference-by-conference basis. Most leaders estimate each league would be ready to roll if 80 percent or more of their conference is prepared to play, and anything below that threshold could get murky.