Pitt State’s Jay’s Twyman and Penn State’s Micah Parsons, who decided to retire this season, could soon join the ranks of their college football teammates.
ESPN reported Sunday night that sources told the network that postponing or canceling the football season appears unchangeable.
Power 5 commissioners held an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss their next course of action, while college officials questioned how football and other fall sports could be played amid the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN reported, citing sources .
Big Ten presidents may be the first to cancel or postpone fall sports, and they want to determine if top officials from the ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Pac-12 are ready to follow.
ESPN reported that a large majority of Big Ten presidents indicated they would vote to postpone football season. There is hope that it would be postponed until spring.
A Big Ten official confirmed to ESPN that no official vote had taken place on Saturday, but the presidents would meet again Monday night.
“It does not look good,” one Power 5 athletic director told ESPN.
Along with Twyman and Parsons, several top players have decided to take them down, including Miami’s Gregory Rousseau, Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley, Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore and Maryland quarterback Josh Jackson.
The ACC and Big Ten had recently reconfigured their fall football schedules to limit exposure by playing primarily conference presidents. The ACC built an 11-game model, and football-independent Notre Dame only accepted as a member by 2020, with one opponent for nonconferences for each team.
The Big Ten had decided to make a 10-game, conference-only schedule.
Pitt lost all his non-conference opponent, Miami (Ohio), when the Mid-American Conference on Saturday became the first major college competition to postpone bankruptcy sports, hopefully, after the spring.
Pitt was scheduled to play in Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 5 at Heinz Field. The Penn State opener was set for Sept. 12 against Northwestern at Beaver Stadium.
Athlete director Jack Swarbrick of Notre Dame told ESPN: “My opinion is that if we change course, we can better articulate the reason for doing so to our student-athletes.”
“Nobody has talked about a plan when the season is canceled,” West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, chairman of the Football Oversight Committee, told ESPN. ‘If it is canceled, we should be able to give a clear direction at that moment, as opposed to saying,’ We do not know. ‘”
Presidents and Chancellors of Pac-12 Universities met Tuesday.
Before taking action, ACC, Big 12 and SEC officials are hoping to wait until students return to campuses by the thousands this month. But the Big Ten and Pac-12 were able to force their hands, sources told ESPN.
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Tribune Review. You can contact Jerry via email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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