3-2-1: A critical first step

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A major vote by the Division I Council has cleared a path to the return of college football teams to their facilities as soon as the start of June and it appears that the Ohio State Buckeyes are on a path that could have players back at the WHAC by June 8th.

There are still some other hurdles that have to be cleared in terms of the Big Ten Conference and Ohio State as an institution signing off on these moves as well. But it certainly is a step in the right direction as we draw closer to that June/July timeframe where some serious decisions and discussions would have to be discussed if there would be any hope of playing a college football season in 2020, in one way, shape or form.

In this week's edition of the 3-2-1 brought to you by our friends at Hague Water Conditioning, we take a look at a recent call with Gene Smith, Ohio State's Director of Athletics, talking about the move to bring players back and what that means. Plus, we will talk a little recruiting and a few other bits and pieces to round things out.

1 - First things first

Everyone is extremely excited to talk about what the news of this week means for September or beyond when it comes to a college football season but this current 'opening' of facilities serves as a critical building block toward reaching that ultimate goal.

We have talked at length about how Mickey Marotti and the rest of the strength and conditioning staff have worked hard to provide customized workout protocols to more than 100 players, based on what type of access each had to weights and cardio equipment.

Obviously this move will now allow players who choose to come back to Columbus (or who have remained in Columbus for the duration) a chance to get back to a familiar facility, and while it will be far from business as usual in terms of having dozens of people in the weight room, it will restore at least a resemblance of normalcy during some very abnormal times.

"We want to provide (out student athletes with) the opportunity to have access to the state-of-the-art equipment that we have, but also our medical people, our trainers," Gene Smith said during a Wednesday conference call. "We want to continue to make sure that they’re in the safest environment possible. That’s what we feel we can provide.”

As more and more businesses open across the state, there has been an easing in the language of many of the directives that have been in place for months, but that does not mean that many of the social distancing directives have been relaxed.

Groups of 10 or fewer still seem to be the desire in many instances and once the weight rooms of the WHAC and the Schumaker Complex open up, that will still be enforced.

A group will go in, go through their work out and then strict measures will be in place before the next group will be able to get in.

“They’ll disappear, the room is cleaned, and then another group will come in,” Smith said. “They’ll work out, then the room is cleaned.”

It will end up being very shift-driven. The believe is that about 50 athletes would be able to work out in a day under those guidelines.

But with every student athlete being different and being in a state that has different rules in place, it should not be expected that all 85 scholarship athletes (more than 105 when you add walk-ons) will be at the doors of the WHAC on day one.

Plus, there will be a dozen incoming freshmen that have not had one day in the program that were all slated to be summer enrollees. While a weight room will be nothing new to them, going through the Ohio State systems will be and this will be a severe learning curve as everyone else involved will be going through a lot of uncharted territory.

But at the end of the day, it is still a huge step in the right direction and with each passing day, the hope is that the end goal of a season is looking more and more like a reality.

2 - Not quite capacity

If you were on social media on Wednesday, you have already heard about this plus we have wrote about it as well. But for those who missed it, don't expect there to be capacity crowds at any college football stadium in 2020.

Right now, the thought of even 'some' fans is better than the alternative of 'no' fans. We may see the season start with no fans, though nobody has come out and said that definitively and outright.

We just don't know, it is mid-May and there are several months between now and the first gameday when we would know for sure if anyone would be in the stadium outside of the players, coaches, staff and television crew.

Gene Smith came out early in the process and said that he was not comfortable with the idea of playing without fans in the stands but that he is getting more comfortable with the idea, but is optimistic that if they feel good enough to put players on the field, they will be able to put fans in the stands, even if it is at a limited number.

"To think that we can create an environment where our players are in contact physically can be safe, where we couldn’t come up with a safe environment where we couldn’t come up with a strategy to create a safe environment for X number of fans..." Smith said.

During the conference call, Smith said that the number of fans at Ohio Stadium could be as low as 20-22-thousand but once Buckeye Nation flipped out over that low estimate, Smith went to social media to try and frame that.

Either way, that is going to be well short of the typical 100K-plus crowds that Ohio State is used to seeing.

Plus, that is also going to create a difficult situation in deciding who will be able to attend and who won't. Some people will just opt not to go, whether they are naturally in a high-risk group for contracting the COVID-19, or just don't want to put themselves, or their families, at risk.

But even if Ohio Stadium is able to operate at 50-thousand fans, the high-end of a best case scenario (short of a full, and 100-percent effective vaccine falling into our laps in the next couple of months) there will be more demand than seats available, even for the games that typically see a few empty seats in the upper reaches of the South Stands.

There will be no quick or easy answers to this one.

3 - Recruiting is still good

Okay, sure, it has been a hot minute since Ohio State has landed a commitment for either the class of 2021 or 2022. But remember this, there are a finite number of spots that the Buckeyes can fill and if they got it all done in May, what would we be talking about in December (other than a hopeful trip to the College Football Playoff, a top-10 Ohio State men's basketball team, a tremendous wrestling team, etc...)

The point is, it is not the worst thing in the world for a week or two without a major commit, especially when Ohio State's board really appears to be dialed in for 2021 to a list of well-known targets.

That doesn't mean that things don't change along the way, but with the absences of recruiting camps, that camp offer probably does not happen. But that is not to say that a player or three don't explode during their senior seasons and get thrown into the discussion.

The Buckeyes have 10 players in the latest update of the Rivals100, meaning 10 of the nation's top 100 players are currently committed to Ohio State. Expand that just a couple of spots and the Buckeyes have 12 of the top-103 (granted the Rivals103 doesn't really have the same ring as the Rivals100).

Debate about recruiting is good and fun and ultimately pays the bills around here, so we welcome it. Sometimes it gets heated, sometimes it even gets personal. At the end, if the passion were not there from Ohio State fans for recruiting, many of us in this industry would probably be selling cars, working PR or learning to code.

Even here in The Horseshoe Lounge, we have had staff versus member fights over recruiting rankings and things of that nature. While it is not always optimal, it is great to see the passion (as long as certain rules are followed) and get a good conversation going.

And recruiting fans won't have to wait long for the next thing to talk about. We will just leave it at that for now.

1 - How many will be there on June 8th?

This is a hard question to answer because there are a lot of things we don't know. We know for a fact that there are players still in Columbus, that live off-campus and never 'went home' during this pandemic scare. Plus, we know there are a few players that were able to get a special waiver from the school to remain on campus, like Master Teague.

It certainly would be easier for guys from the state of Ohio or the Midwest in general to pick up and get back to Central Ohio with more than two weeks lead time. But guys like Gee Scott, Enokk Vimahi, CJ Stroud, Jack Miller and others who are a couple of timezones away, or at least their homes are that far away, it may take more planning for guys like that.

Plus, what exactly is going to be the housing situation? Having one buddy crash on your couch is one thing, but with first and second-year students expected to live in on-campus housing at Ohio State, housing that really is 'not open' at this time, it poses a logistical situation.

Ryan Day, Mickey Marotti and everyone involved with the football program would love to get everyone back as soon as possible and maximize as much of June as possible for those who choose to do voluntary work. But there are a lot of hurdles that still need to be cleared before we see all 85 on scholarship back in town.

2 - What does this mean for basketball?

When the NCAA Division I Council voted on Wednesday, it cleared the path for three sports, not just football but also men's and women's basketball to start voluntary June activities.

With recent renovations completed at Value City Arena, both teams have their own practice facility and while both share the same workout set-up, dealing with rosters of 13 scholarship players on the men's side and 15 on the women's side, that is a much easier number to work around when limits would try and keep no more than 10 players lifting at a time or going through work.

It would be a lot easier to do two-shifts if everyone was trying to participate rather than nine or more with football.

But with the immediacy of the football season approaching, that is going to get most of the headlines but it will be of particular interest to see how basketball operates in this first-wave of sports to resume voluntary work.

That does not mean that everyone will start June 1st, or June 8th, but that everyone will have something in place before the end of the month.

The SEC is going to likely be the first one open and nobody should be shocked by that. The ACC will follow along as will the Big Ten, especially with Ohio State seemingly set to go June 8th (barring an unforeseen hurdle). The Big 12 should not be far behind as well.

The Pac-12 is the one league that people are keeping an eye on and while several states within the footprint seem to be slower than most in their reopening efforts, keep an eye on what the rulings are for professional sports leagues. California seems to be moving toward getting on board in that June timeframe and if the Golden State is on board, it will be difficult for states like Oregon and Washington to stay behind.