The Mountain West postponed fall sports Monday, one day before the Big Ten and Pac-12 did the same. Many fans hope to get their college football fix in the spring, but from player safety to the NFL Draft, there are concerns about the viability of a spring season.
Ultimately, is spring football feasible?
“I think it’s feasible to play in the spring, I do,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said on The Zach Gelb Show. “Obviously it’s not ideal, but under the circumstances, it’s absolutely doable. And I do think there will be [a spring season]. I really do. I have a lot of faith. I’m optimistic. That’s how I approach things, just being optimistic about people finding things out that they need in order for us to be able to play – not just for college football, but for society, and that things get better and we’re able to get back to some normalcy. I think we will be able to do that.
“It’s going to be different if we do, obviously, and we’ll attack that challenge when it comes our way and we’ll make the most out of it,” Harsin continued. “I anticipate the other programs will do the same, and then we’ll figure out how that looks leading into the next season. There’s obviously going to be adjustments there as well. But let’s deal with hopefully what’s going to be in front of us; that’s going to be this postponed season or this possible spring season. I think if we do that, we can still have a great experience in college football, and our players can go out there and enjoy the opportunity that they get to play this game. That’s what we’re looking forward to.
Harsin, 43, is 64-17 at Boise State. He’s won at least 10 games in five of his six seasons with the Broncos, who finished 12-2 last season.
Harsin does not know all of the spring specifics right now – no one does – but plans and protocols will likely be developed in the coming weeks and months.
“Those answers aren’t out there right now, but those are going to be the questions that are going to be asked and those are the answers that we’re going to need to really start to model the plan that we all need to be using,” Harsin said. “I’m hoping that it’s uniform: Hey, this is what we’re all doing, this is when we all start, here’s your 29 days, here’s your 25 practices, and you get yourself prepared. But for the time being, it’s going to be left up to the universities. We’re going to train and we’re going to do things in our program. We’re going to maximize this opportunity for our players to develop themselves, be better athletes, to continue to keep developing things in our program that are important to us, and then doing it in a way that gets us prepared so when it is time to go out there and play that we’re ready.”
Boise State has been ranked in the top 20 in four of Harsin’s six seasons. Last year, the Broncos were ranked as high as No. 14. It was their best ranking since topping out at No. 13 in 2016. They have won the Mountain West in two of the last three seasons.
“We still want to play at a high level, and we still want to compete at a high level,” Harsin said. “I know these players want to go out there and be successful – the seniors, especially. They want to finish what they started. So that’s the thought process right now and that’s the vision and the direction. But at this point, we’re going to wait for some more answers and we’re going to have a little bit of time to do that. We got some other things to focus on right now while we wait.”