College Football: 5 biggest question marks heading into 2020 season

1. Which teams hurt the most without spring ball?

The programs most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are those with first-year head coaches and developmental programs. Most programs should consider this a zero year for their first-year head coaches.

In Starkville, Mike Leach is installing a completely new offense at Mississippi State. He has not settled on who is playing quarterback for the Bulldogs. They have Garrett Shrader and Will Rogers are returning and both KJ Costello and Allan Walters are transferring in — Walters won’t be eligible to play until 2021 as of right now.

Every quarterback on the roster has a learning curve. Luckily the playbook is not super thick. Learning the air raid is all about making quick decisions in real-time. Leach, however, has not had time to evaluate his players.

The same can be said of Karl Dorrell and the Colorado Buffaloes. He was hired late in the cycle to begin and now the coronavirus pandemic has canceled all spring activities. He is taking over a program during a rebuild with a lot of senior talent graduated.

This can be said of Missouri, Boston College, Rutgers and many other programs with new head coaches.

When you think of developmental programs, think of schools that start a lot of redshirts. Wake Forest always comes to mind. These programs get guys that don’t come with them with the “measurables”.

They do not expect the majority of their freshmen to play as true freshmen. They redshirt them and put them in their “program”. The expectation is for players to get bigger, stronger and faster. Spring practice and conditioning is part of that program.

We forget that all football activities are shut down sometimes. Some recruits and players do not have access to follow dietary guides and workouts from their programs. These hurt a developmental program’s growth in the long-term.

It will be interesting to see how these programs are affected by the pandemic this upcoming season.