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Fall camp could be changing for NCAA, Gators

Football practice used to be a right of passage, a crucible depending on your coach, with two-a-day workouts, tackling, and when you're in Florida, dealing with the grueling heat. In recent years the teeth have been removed from spring and fall football camps in an effort to make programs safer and that process will continue this year.

Wednesday Sports Illustrated reported new changes that will continue to shape and redefine what fall camp will look like at the college level.

The Football Oversight Committee recently completed a five-year study into concussion and head trauma caused by the sport. Their findings have led to a proposal to change the structure of upcoming fall camps.

Most notably the committee is considering reducing full-padded practice from 21 to just eight during camp, outlawing collision drills (drills highlighted from Florida practice below, beginning at 12:14 of the video), and limited scrimmages from three to two. Florida has opened some spring and fall practices with what they call "board drills" that pit two players against each other in a head-to-head blocking drill meant to start practice off with high energy and set the tone. It's not a Florida-specific drill or practice and they certainly won't be the only school affected by this potential new legislation.

In an except from the SI article. the study showed that:

"Tracked head exposures in six Division I college football teams from 2015 to '19, finding that 72% of concussions occurred during practice and nearly 50% happened in preseason practice, despite it representing just one-fifth of the football season. Total head impacts in the preseason occurred at twice the rate of the regular season. More than 650 players from Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Wisconsin, UCLA, Air Force and Army were involved in the study."

No coach wants to see players injured but have made connections to the changes in what they are allowed and not allowed to do in practices when missed tackles and poor fundamental play, specifically during the beginning of seasons. While no coach aims to send his team out to a practice field to beat each other up, what's to gain from a football team getting hurt on the practice field?

The new legislation being discussed would keep the same number of practices but drastically change what can go on during those workouts.

Currently the NCAA mandates an acclimation period where the first two days of camp must be without pads (helmets only). The next two practices are in shells (helmets and shoulder pads) before a team can go into full-padded practices. Currently, 21 of the 25 allowed practices can be in full pads. The new legislation would slash that down to just eight fully-padded practices. West Virginia Athletic Director, Shane Lyons, described the model to SI as a 9-8-8 model, where "a minimum of nine padless practices, eight practices in shells (helmets and shoulder pads) and a maximum of eight practices in full pads with full contact. In shells, players cannot be tackled to the ground, under current rules."

The new rules would also limit full-tackling in those padded practiced to 90 minutes of the scheduled practice time and would prohibit having more than two fully-padded practices in a row.

The committee will meet again on Thursday to continue discussing the rule changes.

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