MIAMI _ The Miami Hurricanes intend to play a full college football season this fall and are planning to start bringing players back to campus on a voluntary basis in June, with full-squad workouts by July, according to a UM source briefed on the situation.
And even though UM president Julio Frenk said last week that fans "probably" will not be at Hurricanes games this season because of the coronavirus pandemic, Frenk was less adamant about that in his most recent public comments, and UM officials remain hopeful that at least some fans will be able to attend.
The UM source cautioned that dates are not yet set for the return of student athletes to campus _ and players hadn't been informed of those intentions as of the weekend _ but the plan is to start bringing them back in June for some activities that likely will include a strength and conditioning component.
UM athletic director Blake James told The Miami Herald that the Canes expect to play their full schedule this fall and have not discussed postponing or canceling non-conference games (Temple, UAB, Wagner and Michigan State).
Frenk, in an interview with NBC-6's Jackie Nespral, said UM's plan this year is to quarantine players who test positive.
""It is very important especially in contact sports that we have measures to keep the players safe," he said. "It is important that we do extensive testing so that if any player tested positive, we can quickly isolate those players."
At least a dozen major college programs plan to bring players back June 8, including Ohio State and Southeastern Conference schools, which say they will resume voluntary in-person activities "under strict supervision of designated university personnel and safety guidelines developed by each institution."
UM officials continue working on a plan detailing what its student-athletes can initially do on campus and what safety guidelines to implement.
Players who are recovering from injuries were permitted on UM's campus beginning last week _ a group that includes safety Bubba Bolden and linebackers Bradley Jennings Jr. and Waymon Steed, among others. But injured players are the only student-athletes permitted on UM's campus to this point.
According to SI.com, the Division 1 Football Oversight Committee has discussed permitting programs to resume normal football activities in early July, including in-person interaction between players and coaches. Player/coach interaction, to this point, has been limited to Zoom calls, for both UM and programs nationally.
According to SI.com, the oversight committee is looking at a six-week program beginning in mid-to-late July that would include two weeks of NFL-type OTA practices and then a four-week training camp in August.
That would give UM at least six weeks to prepare for its regular-season opener Sept. 5 against Temple.
UM coach Manny Diaz has said a six-week time period is the minimum needed to prepare players for the season.
UM athletic director Blake James had a conference call with several Board of Trustees members last week and several football issues were covered, but no decisions made.
One UM official emerged from that meeting believing that the Hurricanes would not need to eliminate any sports to compensate for the expected loss in revenue from having no fans _ or limited capacity _ at games.
UM's approach regarding fans at games was not seriously discussed on the call, and that decision ultimately will be made by Frenk, in consultation with Miami-Dade County officials and officials at Hard Rock Stadium, where the team plays.
Frenk told CNN last week that fans would "probably" not be at games, but he amended that in the interview with NBC 6.
"Whether we have fans in the stadium or not will depend on what the circumstances are," Frenk said. "Even without fans, I think it would be a very good first step to be able to play. If everything goes well, we may have the full experience. Whatever steps we can take in a responsible manner _ keeping the safety of our players and fans themselves _ is our first priority. I think we will follow that guidance and hopefully have some football this fall."
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told The Miami Herald earlier this month that the Dolphins and Hurricanes won't have a full stadium _ or anything close to it _ without a major medical breakthrough.
As perspective, Ohio State is modeling a concept that would reduce its stadium capacity from 102,000 to about one-fifth of that.
"We have played a little bit with the social distancing concept," Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in a conference call with reporters last week. "We know that will probably take us down south of 30,000 fans in the stands, actually closer to 20,000-22,000. We've played with that a little bit as a framework to start."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose state has one team in the SEC, predicted Friday that college football will begin as scheduled in his state with "at least some fans in the stands." He said "further clarity" should come in mid-July.
"Our goal right now is to have college football season start as planned with fans in stands," Abbott said on KXAN.
But while many people involved in the sport have expressed optimism about an on-time season, Michigan president Mark Schlissel told the Wall Street Journal that the Wolverines won't play this fall unless all students are back on campus for classes.
Schlissel added that he has "some degree of doubt as to whether there will be college athletics [anywhere], at least in the fall."
Frenk said UM's plan is to bring students back to campus for an on-time fall semester, though no formal announcement has been made.
"The most likely scenario is there will be another wave, but we will much better prepared to deal with that," Frenk said.
