Question about spring ball from Freshman parent

[newjerseyfan8]

Our son is not a chatty one, so I have some questions. I have seen that the D1 teams are practicing and scrimmaging with pads on (at least uppers.) I know D3 rules say they can't even wear helmets in the spring. Did I get that right so far? I thought most of the schools had a red/white, gold/blue or whatever team color game at the end of spring practice. Do they wear pads for that or am I wrong about the whole pad thing. My son is in the NJAC. One school he looked at last spring actually did get to practice in pads because they had a special out-of-country game that they get to do every 3 years. I was mainly curious about the spring game so we can make sure to ask him about it. The school website has no spring info posted yet. Any other info about spring practice would be appreciated as well. Also, is is different between the conferences and should I post this in his conference?

[NCF]

At North Central they get 15 days of practice. This year they are going to Spain, so they get six more days with pads before they leave.

[WashedUp]

The rules do vary by conference.  I believe the MIAC limits to seven spring practices.  It'd probably be good to ask on the NJAC board for the conference specific rules.

[SUADC]

I believe the NCAA restricts to 15 practices. However, I know that certain conferences can decide to have less and on special occassions, I know some teams play overseas and are allowed to wear pads in preparation for that and have more practices. I believe that Division III should be allowed to wear helmets, it helps protect kids who are caught in collisions. I, personally am an advocate of wearing helmets (at-least) because I broke my jaw coming down from a jump ball. As far as gold v. blue (or whatever colors), I don't think the NCAA allows it. Nevertheless, Division III schools can have a 7 on 7 game that is incorporated in their last practice with lineman doing one-on-one's.

[NCF]

I believe the NCAA restricts to 15 practices. However, I know that certain conferences can decide to have less and on special occassions, I know some teams play overseas and are allowed to wear pads in preparation for that and have more practices. I believe that Division III should be allowed to wear helmets, it helps protect kids who are caught in collisions. I, personally am an advocate of wearing helmets (at-least) because I broke my jaw coming down from a jump ball. As far as gold v. blue (or whatever colors), I don't think the NCAA allows it. Nevertheless, Division III schools can have a 7 on 7 game that is incorporated in their last practice with lineman doing one-on-one's.

I would agree with you on the helmets. They wear them for 7 on 7 in high school. I think you are right about the red v. white games, I don't think they allow those.

[Pat Coleman]

You can do one of those if you are doing a foreign trip -- that gives you full-pad practices. If you have full-pad practices, you can use one of them to play a spring game.

[NCF]

You can do one of those if you are doing a foreign trip -- that gives you full-pad practices. If you have full-pad practices, you can use one of them to play a spring game.

NC will have those six padded practices just before they leave, so maybe they will use one of them for a scrimmage or game.