Lets get ready to rumble, maybe

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Full week of work ahead for Auburn as pivotal decisions near

ByPhillip Marshall

3-4 minutes

With the scheduled Aug. 7 start of preseason camp rushing closer, head coach Gus Malzahn’s eighth football team is set for a full week of walkthroughs, film work and meetings. If things go as hoped, the first full practice since last December will be a week from Friday.

Gus Malzahn is headed toward his eighth Auburn season.

But the week ahead is of major importance not just for Auburn’s football program, but for programs across the power-five and the FBS as a whole.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has said repeatedly that he wants to have at least a tentative path forward by the last week of July. The ACC has indicated a similar plan. The last day of July is Friday.

Sankey addressed the issue in an appearance on College Football Live.

‘I’ve finished 41 marathons in my life, and I realize you’re going go mile by mile,” Sankey said. “We are on that journey. The challenge right now is to understand where that finish line may be.”

ACC commissioner John Swafford’s last official statement came on July 10.

“The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, and administrators remains the ACC’s top priority. As we continue to work on the best possible path forward for the return of competition, we will do so in a way that appropriately coincides with our universities’ academic missions,” Swafford said in the statement.

“Over the last few months, our conference has prepared numerous scenarios related to the fall athletics season. The league membership and our medical advisory group will make every effort to be as prepared as possible during these unprecedented times, and we anticipate a decision by our Board of Directors in late July.”

SEC presidents will meet via conference call later this week. They will put great weight into Sankey’s recommendations. ACC presidents will also meet later this week. The presidents will have the final say.

Among the decisions that could be made: Playing conference games only; a scheduling agreement with the ACC; delaying the start of the season, which would presumably mean delaying the start of preseason camp; canceling the season.

Knowledgeable sources say it is unlikely the season would be canceled this week and that any decisions about when or how to start the season will be subject to events in the weeks ahead.

College football administrators will watch closely what happens as NFL teams start training camps and the NBA starts its season its bubble.  But perhaps most important will be what happens when students return to campuses starting in mid-August. Will it be possible to protect athletes to a reasonable degree from the virus that expert say is certain to spread when thousands of students arrive?

Meanwhile, Auburn’s football team and others continue to work and wait. They walk through offensive and defensive formations and plays. They lift weights. They run. The watch video, though they don’t even know who their first opponent will be. They have position meetings. Coaches meet on Zoom.

Like everyone else involved in college athletics, they will eagerly follow what Sankey and other decision-makers say and do in the week ahead.

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