NCAA rule ending two-a-day forcing all the teams to adjust

Efforts to increase safety

NEW YORK, July 26, (AP): The two-aday football practices that coaches once scheduled to toughen up their teams and cram for the start of the season are going the way of tear-away jerseys and the wishbone formation.

As part of its efforts to increase safety, the NCAA approved a plan this year that prevents teams from holding multiple practices with contact in a single day.

The move has forced plenty of schools to alter practice calendars, with many teams opening their preseason as early as this week. Officials don’t mind if it causes a few logistical headaches as long as it reduces the head injuries that had become all too common this time of year.

According to the NCAA’s Sport Science Tech coach Skip Holtz said.

Teams still can hold two practices on a given day, but one of those practices can only be a “walkthrough” that includes no contact, helmets, pads or conditioning activities.

Three hours of recovery are required between a practice and a walkthrough, though meetings can be held during that period.

“It just makes all the sense in the world,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said.

Most programs were trending away from two-a-day practices long before this decision.

More than three-quarters of the 89 Football Bowl Subdivision teams that responded to an Associated Press survey on the subject said they conducted multiple practices on certain days last year. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, teams made sure one of those workouts had limited or no contact.

Those teams won’t have to change their approach too much.

Hainline said he didn’t know exactly how many programs were still holding multiple contact workouts on certain days before the NCAA ruling, but he said it was more common in the Division II ranks than among FBS schools.

Coaches say that because players are on campus working out all year, there’s no need to work them quite as hard once preseason practices begin.

“Back in the day, we used two-a-days to get in shape,” Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. “You weren’t there all summer. You didn’t come until the second half. They didn’t train from January until June like they do now.”

In this Dec 27, 2016 file photo, Florida State running back Dalvin Cook (4) runs as head coach Jimbo Fisher looks on during NCAA college football

practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (AP)