Deion Sanders' latest idea for spring football has the potential to shake up the entire offseason calendar—if the NCAA allows it.
Coach Prime recently floated the idea of turning spring games into something more competitive, suggesting that instead of an intrasquad scrimmage, teams should play an actual opponent.
Syracuse head coach Fran Brown immediately embraced the idea, even offering to bring his squad out to Boulder for a three-day joint practice culminating in a game. While this sounds like a great move for both programs, the NCAA isn’t exactly known for allowing innovation, so we’re not holding our breath.
Why This Makes So Much Sense
Spring games, as they stand, have always been more of a glorified practice session than a real test for teams. Coaches run limited plays, quarterbacks wear no-contact jerseys, and fans get a vanilla version of what their team will actually look like in the fall.
Now, imagine adding another team into the mix. Instead of running against the same players you see every day in practice, players would face an actual opponent, creating a far more useful evaluation tool for coaches. In the NFL, teams regularly hold joint practices and scrimmages before the preseason. College football could absolutely benefit from a similar system.
A Colorado-Syracuse matchup in April wouldn’t be about winning or losing, but yet, we'd all tune in to see it unfold. Can you imagine if some of the other programs around the country did the same thing?
The NCAA Probably Won’t Let It Happen
For all the good this proposal could bring, the NCAA’s track record tells us that this idea will likely be dead on arrival. The organization has been resistant to change for years — that is, unless there's a lawsuit attached — so we highly doubt this will take off this offseason.
But, it is something to watch for future springs. There are enough coaches speaking out about this that we've got to believe there's fire where the smoke is coming from.
If this somehow does get the green light, expect plenty of other Power 4 programs to follow suit, potentially setting up joint practices with in-state FCS schools or even fellow conference members they don’t play that season. But knowing the NCAA, they’ll find a way to squash it before it ever gains traction, at least for now until they're no longer the governing body of college football.