The Pac-12 Conference on Monday announced a new health initiative for its athletes that will include limitations on full-contact football practices.
Commissioner Larry Scott said on a conference call with reporters that the Pac-12 will announce the policy when the conference holds its annual media day in late July. The guidelines will go beyond the NCAA’s minimum standards, which allow contact in all five practices during a game week.
Scott said Pac-12 coaches discussed the issue at their meetings in May, and conference administrators — presidents, athletic directors and the like — did so this past weekend at summer meetings in Park City, Utah.
“I think there’s a feeling that the NCAA’s rule is more permissive than it needs to be,” Scott said.
The new guidelines will be in line with what many Pac-12 schools are doing already, Scott said.
Oregon figures to be unaffected by the new rules. Chip Kelly’s four-year tenure featured a marked decrease in hitting during practices, after a preseason camp his first season as head coach in 2009 that featured significant injuries to projected starting receiver Rory Cavaille and backup linebacker Dewitt Stuckey.
The Ducks only held full-contact practices Tuesdays and Wednesdays in-season, matching an Ivy League policy announced in 2011 that limited teams to two days of hitting between games. Based on how Oregon’s spring drills were conducted under new coach Mark Helfrich — closely following the format under Kelly — this fall figures to be no different. Click here for the complete story.
