Former local stars consider their futures
Watching COVID-19 alter a sport he believes the country revolves around is jarring for Ajani Carter. There wasn’t much surprise when several conferences around the country, including the Mountain West, canceled the fall season.
Carter, who caught the “Hail Mary” pass to give North Shore the state title in 2018, is a sophomore at Utah State. Like many college players, he is at a crossroads in his career.
Several Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision conferences — notably the Big Ten, Pac-12, MidAmerican and Mountain West in the FBS and Southwestern Athletic Conference in the FCS — canceled the fall season with plans to resume this spring if the pandemic allows. Other conferences, such as the American Athletic, Big 12, Southeastern, Atlantic Coast and Conference USA, plan to play this fall.
Questions pile up for athletes in conferences that have postponed. Some are being answered.
The NCAA Division I Council voted to allow athletes in fall sports to compete in any amount of games this year and not lose a season of eligibility. The NCAA Board of Governors still must approve the measure on Friday.
Other questions are ongoing talking points. In the Big Ten, Penn State coach James Franklin expressed desire for the postponed season to start closer to winter, so it doesn’t impact the 2021-22 year as much. Some conferences playing two seasons in one calendar year is a possibility.
Rashawn Slater, an offensive lineman at Northwestern in the Big Ten, declared for the 2021 NFL draft. Slater, who played at Clements, is garnering first-round consideration, as is Stanford offensive lineman and Episcopal graduate Walker Little, who also is expected to declare for the draft.
On Tuesday, Alabama coach Nick Saban suggested on ESPN’s “Get Up!” that players opting out might create a “JV season” in the spring.
Perhaps the ultimate question: What if football can’t happen for those left behind in the spring, either?
“I don’t think about it because we can’t control nothing going on right now,” Carter said. “Everything is a question mark right now. Stuff just happens as the days go on. I want to play, but I don’t know if it will happen or not because stuff keeps changing. Hopefully at the end we get to play.”
Also in the Big Ten, Illinois sophomore wide receiver and Fort Bend Marshall graduate Dalevon Campbell calls it “another offseason in high hopes for a spring season.” At least a few Houston-area products have similar views.
Schools practicing in the fall in hopes of a spring season are expected to be allowed 12 hours of football workouts per week, five of which can be spent on the field in contactless drills.
Jalen “Boobie” Curry, sophomore wide receiver at the Pac-12’s
University of Arizona and St. Pius X graduate, said mentally and physically ramping up for a season and having the course suddenly change is difficult.
Curry believes he can adjust through what essentially will be another offseason. He is concerned about seniors on his team, though, understanding what they have at stake.
“If we do have a season in the spring, it’s definitely different,” said Curry, who holds the Texas state record for single-game receptions at 26, with passes thrown by high school teammate and current Arizona quarterback Grant Gunnell. “I’ve never, of all my years of living, seen a football season being played in the spring. At the end of the day, you have to do what you have to do to possibly have a season at any given time.”
Stephen F. Austin is doing things a bit differently. When the Southland Conference canceled its conference games, it gave schools the option of scheduling nonconference games. So far, the Lumberjacks have lined up games with Texas-San Antonio for Sept. 19 and SMU on Sept. 26.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback and Cy-Fair graduate Cam Arnold is glad for it.
Arnold says players believe they can repay the faith coaches and school officials place in them by taking health and safety away from the facility seriously.
SFA is also debunking the idea all smaller schools can’t keep up with expensive testing protocols like FBS schools can.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to get some more eyes on us,” said Arnold, who helped Cy-Fair to a state title in 2017. “We’ll be one of the few teams playing this year. If we’re being safe and showing it can be done the right way, I think it’ll be a positive light on our program. We’re building something here, and I think it’s a great thing we’re going ahead and doing it.”
“At the end of the day, you have to do what you have to do to possibly have a season at any given time.”
Arizona wide receiver Jalen “Boobie” Curry