What is the team doing this week?

I gather from the videos that they had a good time with the Omaha Challenge last week.  Does practice "officially" start on Jan 15th? 

These are very tight restrictions that the NCAA has put into place.  I was trying to find the official allowed start date for spring practice and I saw that fall practice was restricted to 6 or 8 hours per week and another few hours "allowed" for conditioning/weightlifting, etc.  There were also limitations on time and numbers of players who could spend time with the coach in periods outside the official practice periods. 

I don't remember these restructions 30 years ago.  There were some, but not many.  I remember playing scrimmages and games all the time, for example.  I remember playing scimmages in late fall/early spring Sundays that would last from sun up to sun down.  I remember going over to Tennessee State and playing long games in sweatpants and sweatshirts too.  For strengthening, Doc would put us in the room with the football players and give us very demanding goals.

The daily time commitment for these athletes is far beyond the allowed time allotment by the NCAA.  The daily time commitment is more like six to eight hours per day.  The program stays in compliance by differentiating between mandatory practices and voluntary development.  Weight lifting and conditioning, batting practice, pitching practice, etc. are all voluntary and therefore do not count against the NCAA allotted time.  And, every team and every sport plays the exact same game.

It is my understanding that the players are typically in the clubhouse by noon every week day (except Mondays - Mondays are there designated days off) and typically leave the clubhouse around 7:00.  Weekends are typically shorter - only about 4 hours per day.  To manage this schedule and still get their grades these young men show an unbelievable amount of discipline and time management.  The physical and mental exhaustion they must experience is unbelievable.   This effort is truly commendable.  And the coaching staff and the support staff also do an unbelievable job helping the players accomplish this formidable task.

I'm not a turf guy, but one hopes the players will have a little more free time now that the field does not need much care.

79dore wrote: The daily time commitment for these athletes is far beyond the allowed time allotment by the NCAA.  The daily time commitment is more like six to eight hours per day.  The program stays in compliance by differentiating between mandatory practices and voluntary development.  Weight lifting and conditioning, batting practice, pitching practice, etc. are all voluntary and therefore do not count against the NCAA allotted time.  And, every team and every sport plays the exact same game.

It is my understanding that the players are typically in the clubhouse by noon every week day (except Mondays - Mondays are there designated days off) and typically leave the clubhouse around 7:00.  Weekends are typically shorter - only about 4 hours per day.  To manage this schedule and still get their grades these young men show an unbelievable amount of discipline and time management.  The physical and mental exhaustion they must experience is unbelievable.   This effort is truly commendable.  And the coaching staff and the support staff also do an unbelievable job helping the players accomplish this formidable task.