OTA SZN: Spring practice could be ending in college football

Spring games have long been tentpole events for the college football calendar. The old calendar gave the sport defined windows with high school recruiting taking over for two months after the season and then everyone shifting into spring practice mode in March with spring games occurring in April. But we’ve seen recruiting change drastically.

Now we could see the spring practice structure change.

CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello reports that multiple programs plan to eliminate spring games and coaches are campaigning to take the 15 practice opportunities and use them in June or July for organized team activities (OTAs).

“Sources told CBS Sports that FBS coaches discussed a potential proposal to eliminate spring practices and implement OTAs in the late spring and early summer months at the American Football Coaches Association annual meeting in January,” Marcello writes. “The goal is to better organize rosters before the summer semester and combat tampering before the spring transfer portal window opens in mid-April.”

At that same convention, coaches submitted a proposal to eliminate the spring transfer portal window and only have the portal open during a 10-day period in January after the regular season ends. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has already announced that the Huskers would not have a spring game in fear that opposing teams would attempt to recruit players off the roster in Lincoln.

We still do not have a locked-in date for Kentucky’s spring game with spring practice expected to start at the end of the month or in early March. However, this might just be the last time to see the UK football team in a spring game.

Things are changing in a big way with the House v. NCAA settlement right around the corner.

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