NCAA Division I Football Teams’ Preseason Practice Activities Get Infused with Additional Preventative Health & Safety Measures
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NCAA Division I Football Teams’ Preseason Practice Activities Get Infused with Additional Preventative Health & Safety Measures
Executive Summary
Concussion study of six different Division I FBS programs revealed that 72% of concussions occurred during practice and nearly 50% happened in preseason practice.
NCAA adopts two companion proposals effective this fall that overhauls football pre-season practice to further enhance player safety by diffusing the frequency and severity of direct contact drills.
The acclimatization period that begins football’s pre-season practice segment was expanded by two days to increase the time for players to gradually move from no equipment/no contact to full pads mode later in the pre-season.
New rules provide more specificity to the types of practice activities and drills being further regulated.
Additional day off required during the new seven-day acclimatization period.
This past May, the NCAA Division I Council adopted Proposals 2021-4 and 2021-5 to collectively overhaul the football pre-season practice activities with an aim toward elevating health and safety by further regulating the volume and severity of “full contact” activities.
These rule changes to the football preseason were premised on that research study and feedback from multiple stakeholders including student-athletes, coaches, practitioners, institutional medical personnel and conferences and is intended to enhance student-athlete safety by prohibiting drills that encourage or create straight-line contact that is not common to football.
Although the number of pre-season football practice sessions prior to a team’s first competition remains at 25 practice sessions, there are several new safety measures incorporated into the football pre-season model.
First, the five-day acclimatization period (when limited, gradually expanding activities and equipment could be used) is being extended to seven days. Further, the new rules outline updated protective equipment and contact restrictions, as specified.
During the first two days of the new 7-day acclimatization period, helmets and spider pads are the only permissible protective equipment that may be used. Spider pads is a new addition to the list of permissible protective equipment that had not been enumerated in the prior version of these rules.
For days three through five, helmets, spider pads, and shoulder pads can be used. From the sixth day of practice or testing activity and on, football student-athletes may practice in full pads.
Also new to the acclimatization period is a mandatory day off during the initial 7-day acclimatization period. The required day off may occur as early as Day 2 or as late as Day 7.
After the 7-day acclimatization period, 19 on-field preseason practice sessions are permitted and must be conducted as follows:
(a) General Pre-Season Provisions
(1) Multiple on-field practice sessions shall not be conducted on the same day;
(2) Student-athletes shall not engage in more than three hours of on-field practice activities per day;
(3) A walk-through is not considered an on-field activity; however, if a walk-through is conducted on a day in which no other on-field activities occur, the walk-through must be included in the limit of 25 on-field practices in the preseason practice period. In championship subdivision football, on-field walk-throughs shall not exceed a total of two hours per day. Footballs may be used during walk-throughs in the preseason practice period; and
(4) Student-athletes must be provided with at least three continuous hours of recovery time between an on-field practice session and a walk-through. During this time, student-athletes may not engage in physical athletically related activities (e.g., weight lifting). Time spent in team meetings, film review, receiving medical treatment and eating meals may be included as part of the recovery time.
(b) Protective Equipment Restrictions
(1) Up to eight on-field practice sessions may be conducted in full pads;
(2) During at least five on-field practice sessions, protective equipment is restricted to not more than helmets and spider pads;
(3) During the remaining on-field practice sessions, protective equipment is restricted to not more than helmets, spider pads and/or shoulder pads; and
(4) On-field practice sessions may be conducted in less protective equipment than the maximum restrictions noted above.
(c) Contact Restrictions
(1) Full contact (tackling to the ground) is only permitted during an on-field practice session in full pads;
(2) An institution shall not conduct more than two consecutive days of full contact (tackling to the ground) practices;
(3) An institution shall not conduct more than a total of 75 minutes of full contact (tackling to the ground) within any one on-field practice session other than during the two permissible scrimmages; and
(4) An institution shall not conduct more than two scrimmages during the preseason practice period. A scrimmage is a practice devoted primarily (greater than 50% of practice time) to 11-on-11, full contact (tackling to the ground) activities. A scrimmage counts as one of the eight permissible practices in full pads and may include more than 75 minutes of full contact (tackling to the ground).
Summary
The gist of these changes was to reduce frequency of wearing full pads (e.g., eight on field sessions), the volume of time involved with contact (e.g., no more than 75 minutes within any one session) and the severity of contact occurring in pre-season practice as well as more precisely defining the type of contact (e.g., “tackling to the ground”) that constitutes full contact.
According to Sports Illustrated, the concussion study conducted tracked head exposures in six Division I college football teams from 2015 to '19, finding that 72% of concussions occurred during practice and nearly 50% happened in preseason practice, despite it representing just one-fifth of the football season. Total head impacts in the preseason occurred at twice the rate of the regular season. More than 650 players from Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Wisconsin, UCLA, Air Force and Army were involved in the study.
The limitation on the number of 11-on-11 scrimmages is also a new limitation being placed on pre-season practice model, although anecdotally, some Head Football Coaches prefer not to conduct full scrimmages in pre-season as a way to keep the interest and focus of first competition on your first actual opponent by late August or early September -- not teammates on the other side of the ball.
Wondering when your school’s football team’s first permissible preseason practice might be?
Most football teams’ preseasons will begin in early August. NCAA rules permit preseason practice to begin 29 days before the team’s first scheduled game.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
