Big Ten Football

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said Wednesday he'd be comfortable moving forward with the 2020 college football season without fans in attendance because of the coronavirus pandemic.   

Harbaugh explained during an appearance on ESPN's Get Up he's confident the necessary testing could be acquired to handle both teams, but the same can't be said for the over 107,000 people typically in the stands when the Wolverines have a home game at The Big House:

"You definitely can test both teams, you can test the officials and everybody. Can you test 100,000 fans coming into a stadium? Probably not. You probably couldn't do that. So to answer your question, heck yeah, I'd be comfortable coaching a game without any fans. If the choice were play in front of no fans or not play, then I would choose to play in front of no fans, and I think most of the—darn near every guy I talk to on our team, that's the way they feel about it."

NCAA president Mark Emmert said May 8 the governing body of college sports likely won't have much wiggle room to decide the fate of fall sports, including football. It comes down to the status of the schools, which for the FBS level includes 130 programs ranging from the Northeast to Hawaii.

"All of the commissioners and every president that I've talked to is in clear agreement: If you don't have students on campus, you don't have student-athletes on campus," Emmert said. "... If a school doesn't reopen, then they're not going to be playing sports. It's really that simple."

He added a final decision will probably be made in June or the Fourth of July at the latest. 

In April, UCF athletic director Danny White told ESPN there isn't an easy solution to make up the lost revenue from football.

"There isn't a model I can run to fix the problem of not having any football," he said. "I don't think there's anybody in my position with a big football fanbase that could make decisions to fix that. I don't know what happens—there's not a model, there's not a solution, there's not an action I can take that's going to solve that problem."

If the games do move forward, they'll likely happen without fans. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in April it will be difficult to hold large-scale events without the risk of spreading COVID-19.

"Unless we completely knock this out with a vaccine—which I hope we will, but that's not going to be for a while—I think you’re going to see some form of a tension to the possibility of transmissibility of a respiratory agent," he told James Wagner and Ken Belson of the New York Times.

For now, the college football season is scheduled to kick off Aug. 29.

Bleacher Report's David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to Survive Without Sports.

Jim Harbaugh is optimistic about the direction of his Michigan Wolverines football program.

"Right now, I think our team, we're kind of on the cusp," the 56-year-old told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami. "We haven't gotten it over the top into the playoffs and to championships, and that's what drives us and motivates us every day on the field and every day working toward that goal."

Harbaugh noted Michigan's trips to the New Year's Six bowl games, as the Wolverines won the 2015 Citrus Bowl (41-7 over Florida) and lost the 2017 Outback Bowl (26-19 to South Carolina) as well as the 2019 Citrus Bowl (35-16 to Alabama).

"But you're right, winning that championship, making the playoffs, that's something our players and our coaches are pouring our hearts and souls into," the former San Francisco 49ers head coach continued. "And we're determined to get there."

The Niners parted ways with Harbaugh after an 8-8 2014 campaign, and Michigan hired him in December 2014.

Harbaugh was San Francisco's head coach from 2011-14, leading the team to two conference championships (2011, '13) and Super Bowl XLVII where they lost 34-31 to Baltimore (2012).

Harbaugh played quarterback for the Wolverines from 1983-86, making four bowl trips but only winning the 1985 Fiesta Bowl.

Michigan has failed to make the College Football Playoff or defeat rival Ohio State under Harbaugh, but the team has also not posted a losing record. The Wolverines have gone 10-3 three times (2015, '16 and '18) as well as 8-5 in 2017 and 9-4 last season.

In terms of where the program can go in 2020 and beyond, Orion Sang of the Detroit Free Press suggested that Harbaugh has the deepest talent at running back since arriving to Ann Arbor with sophomore Zach Charbonnet, redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins and redshirt senior Chris Evans.

Evans missed last season due to what he called "academic issues" but was reinstated, and the previously inexperienced Charbonnet and Haskins carried the load with a combined 1,348 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Quarterback is less certain, as two-year starter Shea Patterson departed for the NFL. "In the Jim Harbaugh era, Michigan's signal-callers have been good but never great," Michael Spath of Sports Illustrated wrote in February.

Michigan's 2020 regular season is scheduled to begin against Washington Sept. 5, but that could be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Minnesota walk-on holder Casey O'Brien announced on Twitter that he has survived cancer for the fifth time:

Per the Minnesota football team website, O'Brien was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at 13 years old. He played quarterback before his cancer diagnosis but stayed on the football field as a holder through high school.

The two-time Academic All-Big Ten member and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar played in two games during the 2019 season. He held for three extra-point attempts against Rutgers (42-7 win) and Maryland (52-10 victory). All six extra points were good.

The Golden Gophers finished 11-2 and capped their season with an Outback Bowl victory against Auburn.

The Saint Paul, Minnesota, native was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week after making his collegiate debut versus Rutgers.

Per Garrett Stepien of 247Sports, O'Brien "overcame roughly 15 surgeries along his journey to Minnesota walk-on holder." He had a full left knee replacement and underwent many rounds of chemotherapy.

"Three-hundred nights in the hospital, surgeries, chemo, everything like that—I just kind of walk in myself through my life and everything that went into being in this moment," O'Brien said to ESPN's College GameDay last year.

The redshirt junior is set to begin his third season as a Golden Gopher Sept. 3 vs. Florida Atlantic.

Ohio State University announced Friday that it reached a $40.9 million settlement with 162 survivors of sexual abuse from university-employed doctor Richard Strauss from 1978 to '98.

OSU was facing 12 lawsuits related to Strauss' alleged abuse, and after initially announcing in March that it had reached a monetary settlement with roughly half of the claimants, it made the monetary value official Friday.

Strauss was found to have sexually abused at least 177 former Ohio State students by an independent investigation in 2019.

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), the lawsuits included former Ohio State wrestler Mike DiSabato, whose allegations against Strauss two years ago led to the investigation.

Ohio State President Michael V. Drake said the following about the settlement Friday:

"The university of decades ago failed these individuals—our students, alumni and members of the Buckeye community. Nothing can undo the wrongs of the past, but we must do what we can today to work toward restorative justice. Our focus will always be on the survivors. We know it took great courage for them to come forward, and we are grateful."

The plaintiffs' lead negotiator, Rick Schulte, also released a statement on the settlement:

"Working with Ohio State, we established an independent confidential process to evaluate each claim individually. The process will account for wide variations in abuse and provide a pathway for survivor healing. One hundred percent of 162 survivors in this settlement decided against further litigation and agreed to participate. The participation rate speaks to the quality of this settlement!"

Ohio State noted that the individual settlements will be allocated "based on the harm and damages experienced by each survivor."

The investigation determined that Strauss sexually abused many male athletes "at campus athletic facilities, the student health center, his off-campus men's clinic and his home," per the Associated Press.

Strauss died in 2005 at the age of 67.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh lobbied for relaxing the NFL draft eligibility requirements for college football players, proposing a player be able to declare for the draft "after any season he chooses" in an open letter to the "football community" Thursday. 

Adam Schefter of ESPN shared Harbaugh's letter:

Harbaugh suggested that any player who is selected within the first 224 picks or signs a free-agent contract would forgo any remaining college eligibility. Those who go undrafted would be allowed to return.

Under the present system, players have to be three years removed from high school before they're allowed to make the jump to the pros.

Harbaugh recounted how he spent five years at Michigan and went on to enjoy a successful career in the NFL. He wrote that his experience shouldn't be the only path, however:

"While that was great for me and can be for many current football athletes, it may not be best for all. There are 'early bloomers,' capable of competing in the NFL and earning a livelihood at an earlier age. The goal would be to create a scenario that makes adjustments for all current and future student-athletes that puts the timeline for transition to professional football at their discretion and that of their family. I propose an option that allows theem to make the decision that is best for them."

The NBA only requires players to wait one year. MLB allows high schoolers to enter the draft, but those who attend college don't become draft-eligible for another three years.

With regard to the NFL, the general thinking is that football exacts a much higher physical toll than basketball or baseball. As such, players should be prohibited from going pro until they've developed more.

Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams attempted to enter the 2004 NFL draft, one year earlier than they were allowed. They appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, only to be denied.

Harbaugh's letter is somewhat surprising if only because college football isn't facing the kind of threat posed to college basketball that would potentially require changing the rules.

LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton, two highly touted recruits in the 2019 class, chose to play in Australia for the 2019-20 season rather than going down the traditional college route.

The NBA is also getting more aggressive in luring away top prep stars. 

Jalen Green, Daishen Nix and Isaiah Todd are joining the NBA G League Select Team, with the purpose of training and preparing for the 2021 NBA draft. Green, Nix and Todd rank third, 15th and 18th nationally in 247Sports' 2020 composite rankings.

Especially with the collapse of the XFL, high school football players don't have any realistic alternatives to playing in college. Skipping a bowl game is the extent to which they can exert a level of autonomy with regard to their NFL prospects.

Multiple steps are required before Harbaugh's proposal becomes a reality. The fact he wrote the letter at all might still speak to the momentum growing behind addressing the NFL's eligibility rules.

Penn State head football coach James Franklin told reporters Wednesday that he believes conferences should allow teams in open states to move forward with the 2020 football season, even if certain member schools are prohibited by coronavirus restrictions. 

"I can't imagine that right now we're all going to open at the same time," Franklin said, per Heather Dinich of ESPN. "If the SEC, for example, opens up a month earlier than the Big Ten, and the Big Ten is able to open up and 12 of the 14 schools, if two schools can't open, I don't see a conference—any conference—penalizing 80 percent or 75 percent of the schools because 25 percent of them can't open.

"To me, unless there's a level playing field and the NCAA comes out and says that no one's opening before this date to try to help with that, what you really end up doing is you end up hurting the conference. Say two or three of the schools in our conference that are ranked in the top 10 have the ability to open and a couple schools don't, and you make the decision to hold the entire conference back, you're hurting the conference as a whole in terms of your ability to compete."

Rutgers, which is located in New Jersey, appears the most unlikely Big Ten school to be able to be fully open by fall. Camden, New Jersey, where Rutgers is located, has more than 4,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and is only 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia—one of the hardest-hit cities outside of New York state. 

Any speculation about when and if college football can return in the fall is premature. A vast majority of college campuses nationwide have been closed to quell the pandemic, and conference commissioners told Vice President Mike Pence that sports will not return until it's safe for students to be on campus.

Given that there are tens of thousands of students on many campuses across the country, the idea of a return may be more difficult for college sports than most professional outlets. We are likely months away from people being allowed to congregate in such large groups again, and that assumes there are no setbacks or second spike.

Franklin, who noted he anticipates a "way inconsistent" return, said it would be helpful if the NCAA enacted guidelines for every school to follow.

"That could at least help with it a little bit," Franklin said. "In a perfect world, everybody opens at the same time. I just don't see any way that [will] be possible. Are you going to not have college football this year or sports in general because two states in the country won't open? I don't see that happening."

As the sports world continues to figure out how to navigate amid the coronavirus pandemic, it sounds like Michigan State football is ahead of other programs with its ability to recruit virtually. 

Per The Athletic's Colton Pouncy, some of the Spartans' top 2021 commits praised the coaching staff's ability to innovate under the current circumstances. 

Safety Gabe Nealy, who committed to the school in April, told Pouncy about his virtual meeting with Michigan State:

"The coaches spoke about how things were going to be at MSU. They talked about schemes, my role there and they really just laid out my entire future for me. Me and my family really loved that they had a plan for me and how they were going to develop me and they laid everything out for us. I told the staff I was committing immediately after the visit."

According to Pouncy, there is a process to setting up virtual visits that starts if a recruit is interested roughly one week in advance.

After the calls are organized, recruits meet various members of the athletic and academic staffs that is capped off by a meeting with new head coach Mel Tucker and positional coaches who will explain the player's role on the team. 

"I talked to all the coaches for about 15 minutes about the school and why I could be beneficial to the program, and we finished off with the head coach," safety Jah'von Grigsby told Pouncy of his experience. "They like my versatility on the field. I can play on the roof, the box or even nickel."

Pouncy noted some things that Michigan State does, including a festival theme for its various virtual visits by setting up "booths" along the way that show different departments in the football program. 

Tight end Kameron Allen showed off one of the graphics put together by the Spartans of him in a green and white uniform sitting atop a throne:

Michigan State's ability to adapt and innovate because of limitations stemming from the pandemic is particularly crucial with a new coaching staff in place. Mark Dantonio stepped down in February, leaving the Spartans scrambling to fill his job. 

Tucker, who began his coaching career with Michigan State as a graduate assistant from 1997-98, returned to the program after resigning as head coach at Colorado. Based on the early returns from his recruiting skills, the Spartans have to be happy with their choice. 247Sports ranks MSU 23rd nationally in the 2021 recruiting cycle.

Roy Lester, who coached at the high school level and spent three years in charge at Maryland, died Sunday at age 96 from complications caused by the coronavirus, his family told the Baltimore Sun's Glenn Graham.

Lester's daughter, Amy Lester Greco, confirmed his death in a Facebook post.

"How blessed I am to have been his only daughter," she wrote. "I am not a perfect person but everything good about me came from this beautiful man. This is a man that 'walked the walk' & when he was talking he was absolutely hilarious!!"

Greco said in a Facebook post April 25 that Lester had contracted the coronavirus.

Lester took charge of the Terrapins in 1969, and the team went 7-25 during his brief spell. Jerry Claiborne replaced Lester in 1972 and guided the program to a stretch of six straight bowl games starting in 1973.

Maryland head coach Mike Locksley credited Lester for helping set the team up for success:

While Lester's college coaching career was largely forgettable, he racked up 260 wins as a high school coach, per the AP.

Maryland didn't officially recognize state champions in football until 1974, so none of Richard Montgomery High School's six perfect seasons with Lester at the helm resulted in a state title. Richard Montgomery's 1968 squad was ranked third in the country.

Following his departure from the Terrapins, Lester coached 15 more years across stints at Paint Branch and Magruder High Schools. His teams were crowned state champions on three occasions over that time.

The United Way for Southeastern Michigan COVID-19 Community Response Fund received a $100,000 boost from Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh and his wife, Sarah, on Monday:

"My wife Sarah and I wanted to make sure we made this donation where it could have the most impact," Harbaugh said in a press release (h/t the Detroit Free Press' Orion Sang). "We have been looking for a way to help the families that are really having a difficult time right now, that's why we decided to support the work of United Way for Southeastern Michigan."

According to CNN's latest numbers, Michigan has the seventh-most confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States at 43,990. There have been 4,139 deaths as a result.

Harbaugh was hired as the Wolverines' head coach in December 2014. Prior to that, the 56-year-old played quarterback at Michigan from 1983 to 1986.

Michigan is 47-18 with Harbaugh in charge.