Week of 7/13
/7/17:
Today the Colonial Athletic Association cancelled their Fall 2020 conference schedule football season, but have left the door open for its members to pursue an independent schedule. The CAA is one of the three strongest conferences in the FCS - along with the Big Sky and Missouri Valley. So far James Madison and Elon seem interested in playing this fall, while the others are looking towards spring.
The hot hand in recruiting at this time is Nick (Lou?) Saban and the Crimson Tide. Today they snagged the Brockermeyer twins out under the Longhorn’s nose. Tommy, who is a 6’6'“ 280-pound offensive tackle, is the No. 2-ranked overall prospect, and his brother James, 6’3” 253-pound center, is the 99th ranked prospect. Here comes the SEC again…
While talking about the SEC, the conference announced today that they would honor the scholarships of athletes who opt out of participating this fall. This follows in the footsteps of a similar announcement made earlier by the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences.
7/16:
The MEAC has now suspended the fall sports indefinitely, and like other conferences that have cancelled their fall seasons, they are unsure about playing their fall schedules in the 2021 spring semester. This is the first scholarship league in Division I to sit out the season.
Friday could be a big day for the FCS as one of the top conferences (CAA) could be making a call about their season. Rumor has it that their conference schedules will be cancelled, but individual schools would be allowed to create their own independent schedules. Not sure that will be feasible.
Since it wasn’t a day loaded with news, I can’t help but mention Auburn WR Zach Farrar. As a graduate transfer, Farrar has entered the portal and is looking to play for his 5th college program (Oklahoma, Gulf Coast Community College, Youngstown State, Auburn, and ?). Wonder if he has trouble committing to a relationship…
7/15:
For the first time since World War II, the Rose Parade has been canceled. The parade had its beginning in 1891 and is held on January 1st every year before the Rose Bowl parade. Very sad day.
St. Thomas is the first university that has been approved to move directly from Division III to Division I in NCAA modern history. Their football team will play in the FCS non-scholarship Pioneer League - which stretches from New York to California and now Minnesota to Florida. The Tommies have a 126-21 record since 2008, and they have made two appearances during that time in the Division III national title game (2012 and 2015).
TCU will get a boost to their 2021 roster as LSU LB Marcel Brooks is moving closer to home. Brooks, a five-star recruit in 2019, appeared in eleven games last year for the Tigers in their run to the national championship.
Another conference has announced that they are postponing their fall sports schedule. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (Division II) will not be playing football this fall, but will attempt to play their games in the spring. Probably the best known team in the conference is Slippery Rock.
USA South, Division III, is making a creative attempt to play games this fall. They will split their eight teams into two divisions and play a home-and-home in-division format, with a championship game between the two divisional champions. To eliminate overnight travel, they will look into neutral site venues if necessary. Lastly, the league announced that schools are free to schedule non-conference games if they wish.
7/14:
The 2021 meeting between Florida State and Notre Dame has been moved up from Labor Day to Sunday. This will be Notre Dame’s first visit to Tallahassee since 2014 - when they fell to the Seminoles 31-27. These teams have met nine times, with four of those matchups being Top Ten games.
It looks like the state of Alabama will be sending former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville to Washington D.C. to represent them as a senator. He must have had the backing of the Crimson Tide football fans because he said “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have Nick Saban.” As the head coach of the Tigers, Tuberville had a six-game winning streak against Alabama.
Speaking of the Crimson Tide, they are on a roll on the recruiting trail. Today they landed their eighth ESPN300 2021 recruit since May - and their tenth overall. LB Kendrick Blackshire, out of Texas, offered up his signature to Nick Saban.
The city of Philadelphia has announced a ban on large events for the next six months. For college football this will impact Temple, but more importantly it will have an effect on the Army-Navy game!
7/13:
Following in the footsteps of the Ivy League, the Patriot League is the second FCS Conference to cancel all fall sports. The league said that having fall sports in the spring would be very challenging, but start looking into it to see if it’s feasible. Unlike the Ivies, the league sends a team to the FCS Playoffs, but they are usually one-and-done. My wheels are turning a bit regarding Spring 2021 because these two leagues (Ivy and Patriot) could have some good matchups between them to fill out the schedule…
Hampton, out of the FCS Big South Conference, has announced that they will not fall sports this year. The Pirates are the first team outside of the Ivy and Patriot Leagues to cancel their fall sports season.
The Navy Athletic Director, Chet Gladchuk, (love the name!) is very determined to play the Army-Navy game this year. Of course there is the city of Philadelphia to consider, and the AAC would be concerned if their championship game has to be pushed back, but if you have to preserve ONE games - this is it!
In late May JT Daniels, former USC QB, announced he was moving on to Georgia. Today it was announced that the NCAA has granted him a waiver, so he is eligible for three years starting this fall. I don’t think that Jaime Newman was expecting this - so will he enter the transfer database again or will he enjoy and embrace the new competition?