C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
The NCAA handed down a major ruling today that football, men's basketball and women's basketball can bring athletes back starting June 1 for in-person, on-campus athletic activities through June 30.
This is not a blanket ruling and will still need to pass some conference hurdles (the SEC athletic directors are reportedly meeting on this this week) but it's a step in the right direction for having college sports this fall and into the future.
What's it mean for South Carolina if they are allowed to get athletes back for at least a month? A few things.
Usually at this point in the year programs like football and both basketballs would be preparing for their crop of 2020 signees that hadn't already gotten to campus to move in at the end of May or the beginning of June.
South Carolina's Summer III session starts June 1 and continues through June 17 with another starting June 22 and going through July 8.
If this does ultimately come to fruition, it could mean getting those signees in all sports back to campus, even briefly, which could do wonders.
It would get them in the weight room—something that hasn't been uniform across each person's home situation—and working their respective sports' strength coaches.
When it comes to freshmen, the transition to the weight room is amazingly beneficial and helps transition them to the physicality of their respective sports, and getting them back in June compared would put them miles ahead of where they would be if they couldn't come back until August.
Also, it brings back the returning players to continue their work in the strength and conditioning program.
For the football team specifically, it helps them make up some of the things they didn't get with spring football and allows them to continue to install Mike Bobo's offense.
Right now, they've been doing that all over Zoom and, while that will continue even if players come back on campus, it does give them some face-to-face time with the coaching staff for some small group instruction and gets them back with first-year strength coach Paul Jackson to resume the work that got cut short.
That can be insanely beneficial for everyone, but especially for the early-enrollees like MarShawn Lloyd, Luke Doty and others who didn't get a full offseason to train like other early enrollees did in past years.
Will Muschamp said this week the football staff is back in the building this week with the offensive staff working there in the morning and the defensive staff there in the afternoons. They have protocols set up for if/when players return, and he detailed those here.
For both basketballs, the summer is primarily time used in the weight room but they do get a small portion of on-court work that they can start up with their returners this summer as well. That could be huge for player development, obviously, but it gets guys more comfortable with each other and builds camaraderie for the following season.
The men's team has two incoming signees in Pat Iriel and Ja'Von Benson that will drastically benefit from getting in the weight room and with the team nutritionist to get their bodies right to try and compete for minutes next season.
As for the women, they have one incoming player, but transfer Destiny Littleton sat out last season and is coming off a serious injury where her legs were immobilized for a long time. Some on-court work with her team could go a long way for knocking off some of that rust.
Whether or not this gets approved by the SEC, this is a step in the right direction for college sports returning in some capacity in the fall.
This is not a blanket ruling and will still need to pass some conference hurdles (the SEC athletic directors are reportedly meeting on this this week) but it's a step in the right direction for having college sports this fall and into the future.
What's it mean for South Carolina if they are allowed to get athletes back for at least a month? A few things.
Usually at this point in the year programs like football and both basketballs would be preparing for their crop of 2020 signees that hadn't already gotten to campus to move in at the end of May or the beginning of June.
South Carolina's Summer III session starts June 1 and continues through June 17 with another starting June 22 and going through July 8.
If this does ultimately come to fruition, it could mean getting those signees in all sports back to campus, even briefly, which could do wonders.
It would get them in the weight room—something that hasn't been uniform across each person's home situation—and working their respective sports' strength coaches.
When it comes to freshmen, the transition to the weight room is amazingly beneficial and helps transition them to the physicality of their respective sports, and getting them back in June compared would put them miles ahead of where they would be if they couldn't come back until August.
Also, it brings back the returning players to continue their work in the strength and conditioning program.
For the football team specifically, it helps them make up some of the things they didn't get with spring football and allows them to continue to install Mike Bobo's offense.
Right now, they've been doing that all over Zoom and, while that will continue even if players come back on campus, it does give them some face-to-face time with the coaching staff for some small group instruction and gets them back with first-year strength coach Paul Jackson to resume the work that got cut short.
That can be insanely beneficial for everyone, but especially for the early-enrollees like MarShawn Lloyd, Luke Doty and others who didn't get a full offseason to train like other early enrollees did in past years.
Will Muschamp said this week the football staff is back in the building this week with the offensive staff working there in the morning and the defensive staff there in the afternoons. They have protocols set up for if/when players return, and he detailed those here.
For both basketballs, the summer is primarily time used in the weight room but they do get a small portion of on-court work that they can start up with their returners this summer as well. That could be huge for player development, obviously, but it gets guys more comfortable with each other and builds camaraderie for the following season.
The men's team has two incoming signees in Pat Iriel and Ja'Von Benson that will drastically benefit from getting in the weight room and with the team nutritionist to get their bodies right to try and compete for minutes next season.
As for the women, they have one incoming player, but transfer Destiny Littleton sat out last season and is coming off a serious injury where her legs were immobilized for a long time. Some on-court work with her team could go a long way for knocking off some of that rust.
Whether or not this gets approved by the SEC, this is a step in the right direction for college sports returning in some capacity in the fall.
