FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[RowanPhan]

Any NJAC recruiting news?  Can't find anything related to Rowan at the moment.

The only player I see committed to Rowan is DL Phoenix Gilder (North Hunterdon, 6'3" 240lbs)

First Team All Conference Player, 2018 state champ

I almost read that as Phoenix Glider... but still a cool name.

Congratulations to Anthony DiTorrice on his commitment to play for Rowan University next season.  Same HS as Rowan's NJAC rushing leader, Messiah Divine.

Montgomery High School
Positions: TE, DE
Height & Weight: 5'10" 185lbs

Another Rowan commitment. Chose Rowan over a number of other D3 schools including Montclair State.

Matt DeSarno
#24 Senior RB SS
Wall Township High School
Wall, NJ

Profs welcome Derron Cooney
Gloucester City High School - Gloucester City, NJ
Positions: C, G
Height & Weight: 6'1" 265lbs
Class of: 2020

Profs land another one:
Mike Maciolek
#85 Senior TE DE
Bridgewater-Raritan High School
Bridgewater, NJ

[RowanPhan]

Do you guys think we're going to have football this year?

[Teamski]

I don't know.  If things return to normal in July, yeah, I can see them pulling it off.  Summer practice will be shortened, but I have faith.....

-Ski

[thewaterboy]

I don't know.  If things return to normal in July, yeah, I can see them pulling it off.  Summer practice will be shortened, but I have faith.....

-Ski

I imagine the NCAA (especially at the higher levels) will do everything within their power to make sure football happens. Its a huge money maker.

[jmcozenlaw]

I don't know.  If things return to normal in July, yeah, I can see them pulling it off.  Summer practice will be shortened, but I have faith.....

-Ski

I imagine the NCAA (especially at the higher levels) will do everything within their power to make sure football happens. Its a huge money maker.

I'll go 50/50 at this point. There are several prominent D3 coaches who are growing fearful of football happening come August and are looking into the possibility of moving it to next Spring........which brings a ton of issues in and of itself!

[Oline89]

I don't know.  If things return to normal in July, yeah, I can see them pulling it off.  Summer practice will be shortened, but I have faith.....

-Ski

I imagine the NCAA (especially at the higher levels) will do everything within their power to make sure football happens. Its a huge money maker.

I'll go 50/50 at this point. There are several prominent D3 coaches who are growing fearful of football happening come August and are looking into the possibility of moving it to next Spring........which brings a ton of issues in and of itself!

Spring football?  Impossible.  Logistical nightmare.  Even turf fields are barely playable before March, grass fields not playable before May in the North.  Just don't see it

[Pat Coleman]

Spring football?  Impossible.  Logistical nightmare.  Even turf fields are barely playable before March, grass fields not playable before May in the North.  Just don't see it

Of the 247 schools fielding football teams this upcoming season, only 28 play on grass.

[Oline89]

Spring football?  Impossible.  Logistical nightmare.  Even turf fields are barely playable before March, grass fields not playable before May in the North.  Just don't see it

Of the 247 schools fielding football teams this upcoming season, only 28 play on grass.

Still, it will be a tough sell.  The lacrosse season already seems rushed. 

[RowanPhan]

I don't know.  If things return to normal in July, yeah, I can see them pulling it off.  Summer practice will be shortened, but I have faith.....

-Ski

I imagine the NCAA (especially at the higher levels) will do everything within their power to make sure football happens. Its a huge money maker.

I'll go 50/50 at this point. There are several prominent D3 coaches who are growing fearful of football happening come August and are looking into the possibility of moving it to next Spring........which brings a ton of issues in and of itself!

Spring football?  Impossible.  Logistical nightmare.  Even turf fields are barely playable before March, grass fields not playable before May in the North.  Just don't see it

That's interesting. That could create issues for the following fall season by not giving the students much of a break or give their bodies a rest.

[PBR...]

From what I am hearing with the way things are breaking out in getting the country and economy slowly back into order most likely in May the NCAA is leaning currently towards an Oct 1 start for football. Cancel OOC games and strictly in conference and season may run a bit longer than normal. This way schools can gauge safety and getting students back in school and hopefully no flare ups virus wise. Not sure how this would work for schools below D 1-A with the playoff system. I am sure they are looking into it but haven't heard that part from people privy to conversations behind closed doors. To cancel the season would crush many schools budgets and the local impact on communities would be massive. Some schools like Univ of Cincinnati have already dropped men's soccer. Football pays the freight for all other sports and without that money many schools will be in danger of having to do the same. Hope everyone is healthy and stay safe.

[Jonny Utah]

From what I am hearing with the way things are breaking out in getting the country and economy slowly back into order most likely in May the NCAA is leaning currently towards an Oct 1 start for football. Cancel OOC games and strictly in conference and season may run a bit longer than normal. This way schools can gauge safety and getting students back in school and hopefully no flare ups virus wise. Not sure how this would work for schools below D 1-A with the playoff system. I am sure they are looking into it but haven't heard that part from people privy to conversations behind closed doors. To cancel the season would crush many schools budgets and the local impact on communities would be massive. Some schools like Univ of Cincinnati have already dropped men's soccer. Football pays the freight for all other sports and without that money many schools will be in danger of having to do the same. Hope everyone is healthy and stay safe.

That would make sense but there are still so many questions on any sports this fall.  If there is no vaccine, and someone on a team gets tested positive for the virus, are we doing things different on 10/1/20 than we are on 4/1/20? 

Also many random thoughts about why NY, NJ (then a big jump down to MI and MA) get hit so hard but Texas, Cali and Florida don't get much.  Do they get hit hard next year?  Wouldn't everybody have to do what we are doing now to make sure those places don't get hit hard?

Budgets are also interesting.  Does the SEC just start to do their own thing with other schools doing the same?  Cancelling a season at a place like Boston College is only going to "lose" them money if they keep paying everyone.  Boston College (and probably Cincinnati) doesn't make any money on football, but obviously collect revenue from games.  Cancelling an SEC season is going to lose money for everyone in the SEC (schools, workers, etc).

I think right now we are still in the middle of a lot of deaths, and until that drops below some magic number (10 a day?) I don't think we can guess what will happen.  But if I had to guess, a few restaurants might start to open up (families only, no bar), then maybe barber shops, etc, then gyms, then sports.  But man, I can't picture large crowds at large sporting events for a while.  I hope I'm wrong.

[thewaterboy]

From what I am hearing with the way things are breaking out in getting the country and economy slowly back into order most likely in May the NCAA is leaning currently towards an Oct 1 start for football. Cancel OOC games and strictly in conference and season may run a bit longer than normal. This way schools can gauge safety and getting students back in school and hopefully no flare ups virus wise. Not sure how this would work for schools below D 1-A with the playoff system. I am sure they are looking into it but haven't heard that part from people privy to conversations behind closed doors. To cancel the season would crush many schools budgets and the local impact on communities would be massive. Some schools like Univ of Cincinnati have already dropped men's soccer. Football pays the freight for all other sports and without that money many schools will be in danger of having to do the same. Hope everyone is healthy and stay safe.

That would make sense but there are still so many questions on any sports this fall.  If there is no vaccine, and someone on a team gets tested positive for the virus, are we doing things different on 10/1/20 than we are on 4/1/20? 

Also many random thoughts about why NY, NJ (then a big jump down to MI and MA) get hit so hard but Texas, Cali and Florida don't get much.  Do they get hit hard next year?  Wouldn't everybody have to do what we are doing now to make sure those places don't get hit hard?

Budgets are also interesting.  Does the SEC just start to do their own thing with other schools doing the same?  Cancelling a season at a place like Boston College is only going to "lose" them money if they keep paying everyone.  Boston College (and probably Cincinnati) doesn't make any money on football, but obviously collect revenue from games.  Cancelling an SEC season is going to lose money for everyone in the SEC (schools, workers, etc).

I think right now we are still in the middle of a lot of deaths, and until that drops below some magic number (10 a day?) I don't think we can guess what will happen.  But if I had to guess, a few restaurants might start to open up (families only, no bar), then maybe barber shops, etc, then gyms, then sports.  But man, I can't picture large crowds at large sporting events for a while.  I hope I'm wrong.

I think there are too many variables at this point to predict what will happen this fall. I think not enough is known about this virus, how many people have it (or have had it) due to lack of testing, and maybe it's just me, but I also think its hard when some people are naturally fascinated by the doomsday scenario and its leading people to jump ahead when we don't know enough. I do think that this wave of the disease will be over by fall. I also think that it is far too early to rule out an on-time start to football season. Just my two cents.

[CNU85]

I've read comments from some major universities that they are making contingency plans to have the entire upcoming academic year on line. 

[jknezek]

I've read comments from some major universities that they are making contingency plans to have the entire upcoming academic year on line.

Dorms are just a huge problem. Dorms are huge spreaders of disease every year. Communal food halls are also big problems. College environments are not good environments during a virus outbreak. It's just too easy to spread too many different ways. There are worse places of course, cruise ships and airplanes come to mind, but college environments are not good for virus mitigation.

That being said, I still think colleges open in the Fall. The trending numbers are good now. By July when this decision needs to be made I think in most areas it will look good. Then it will just be a question of whether there will be a severe second wave or not. Lets hope not.

I'm more skeptical of things like big time spectator sports. I just don't know how you justify packing 80K into a stadium to watch college football this fall. I certainly wouldn't go. I doubt I'll even go to a movie theater in the rest of 2020...

[PBR...]

From what I am hearing with the way things are breaking out in getting the country and economy slowly back into order most likely in May the NCAA is leaning currently towards an Oct 1 start for football. Cancel OOC games and strictly in conference and season may run a bit longer than normal. This way schools can gauge safety and getting students back in school and hopefully no flare ups virus wise. Not sure how this would work for schools below D 1-A with the playoff system. I am sure they are looking into it but haven't heard that part from people privy to conversations behind closed doors. To cancel the season would crush many schools budgets and the local impact on communities would be massive. Some schools like Univ of Cincinnati have already dropped men's soccer. Football pays the freight for all other sports and without that money many schools will be in danger of having to do the same. Hope everyone is healthy and stay safe.

That would make sense but there are still so many questions on any sports this fall.  If there is no vaccine, and someone on a team gets tested positive for the virus, are we doing things different on 10/1/20 than we are on 4/1/20? 

Also many random thoughts about why NY, NJ (then a big jump down to MI and MA) get hit so hard but Texas, Cali and Florida don't get much.  Do they get hit hard next year?  Wouldn't everybody have to do what we are doing now to make sure those places don't get hit hard?

Budgets are also interesting.  Does the SEC just start to do their own thing with other schools doing the same?  Cancelling a season at a place like Boston College is only going to "lose" them money if they keep paying everyone.  Boston College (and probably Cincinnati) doesn't make any money on football, but obviously collect revenue from games.  Cancelling an SEC season is going to lose money for everyone in the SEC (schools, workers, etc).

I think right now we are still in the middle of a lot of deaths, and until that drops below some magic number (10 a day?) I don't think we can guess what will happen.  But if I had to guess, a few restaurants might start to open up (families only, no bar), then maybe barber shops, etc, then gyms, then sports.  But man, I can't picture large crowds at large sporting events for a while.  I hope I'm wrong.

From what I am hearing they are hoping to have a lot available testing and the ability to get results much quicker than currently. So players/coaches/staff will be tested very frequently ... big debate still is will be fans be allowed in the stadiums... answer to that is TBD...
Reasons why down south didn't get his as hard ... obviously ny/nj are densely populated areas also from my friend who is studying covid-19 at FAU (Florida Atlantic University) ( I live in Delray Beach) Covid-19 does much better in cooler and humid temps... 45-50 degrees is ideal for it to thrive. Florida being very hot the sun kills a good chunk of the virus outside. For example someone at Publix has Covid shops and leaves their cart outside by their car... sun is so hot within a minute or two will have killed off the virus whereas up north if its 48 degrees out it thrives. Also Covid likes humid air why out west especially southwest hot and low humidity it doesn't live as well.
The big thing here is many of the big conferences have their own channels now for sports as well as contracts with espn or fox sports. I am not sure what the language of the contract states if games aren't played. Do the university's pay that money back? Deferred? Some really big questions that lawyers are pouring over... A LOT of money at stake when you look at programs like the Big 10 and what Penn State/Ohio State/Michigan get annually from those contracts.
Local economies like State College really depend upon the football season to support businesses. As well as the football programs allow so many colleges to have soccer, softball, baseball, etc teams as they are all money losers for schools. Take that money away and ouch...
Hopefully we continue to trend in the right direction as a country and we can start to loosen things up in the not so distant future... stay safe everyone... Also good to see you are still around Utah... been awhile hope you are well