Are college football’s spring games on the verge of extinction?

TAMPA, Fla.

Like many college football bastions, Nebraskas annual spring intrasquad game had evolved into a hallowed custom, rife with pomp and three-point stance.

A glorified practice that attracted thousands, it was equal parts recruiting tool and rite.

Same at places such as USC, Ohio State and Texas, where this alliance of social event and scrimmage embedded itself on a communitys calendar.

But this year, none of those places are staging spring games, for varying and valid reasons that may prompt other big-time programs to follow suit.

The word tampering doesnt exist anymore, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said recently at his midwinter news conference, according to the Associated Press.

Its just an absolute free, open common market.

I dont necessarily want to open up (spring practice) to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, He looks like a pretty good player.

Lets go get him.

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As the line keeps blurring between major college football and the NFL, and de facto free agency (the NCAA transfer portal) persists at the collegiate level, spring games if not spring practices have joined walk-ons and wing-T formations on the sports endangered list.

And while some coaches, such as Floridas Billy Napier, still cling to the tradition, the demographic at-large is left to wonder how much longer it will last.

I just think its a healthy experience for the players; I think its great, Napier said at his Feb.

5 national signing day news conference.

I can still remember some of these rookies last year talking about it.

...

(Veteran defensive tackle) Joey Slackman said, Man, that was the biggest crowd Ive ever played in front of.

So theres a healthy component to filling that thing up, playing a game.

I think we played like 50 players on both sides, right? Just that process of preparing, dividing the team, I think theres still a lot of positives there.

The positives are being offset by more and more pitfalls.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian didnt see the benefit of staging a spring game only three months after the Longhorns completed a 16-game season in the expanded College Football Playoff.

Over the last two years, weve played 30 games, and thats a lot for college football, Sarkisian said on the Up & Adams show on FanDuel TV.

Weve had 25 guys get invited to the NFL combine the last two years, so weve got a lot of young players on our roster; we have 21 mid-year high school kids that just showed up.

So the development thats needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be.

Similarly, Ohio State coach Ryan Day recently told his schools board of trustees that the Buckeyes will transition from the normal spring game to a spring showcase, though details on what that entails havent been released.

FSU also wont hold a traditional spring game this year (opting for a similar showcase-type event), but only because of ongoing renovations at Doak Campbell Stadium.

I think we have to be smart about how we handle this, Day said.

When you look at the NFL model and theyre playing the number of games that they play in the NFL, we just played 16 games.

So to think that we can continue with the same spring game or spring practice model I think is asking for trouble, because of the amount of games now.

The sentiments of Sarkisian and Day coincide with a growing push by college coaches to transition from the traditional 15-practice spring period to NFL-style organized team activities (OTAs) during the summer.

CBS Sports reported that Football Bowl Subdivision coaches even discussed a proposal to eliminate spring practices and implement OTAs in the late spring and early summer months at the American Football Coaches Association annual meeting in January.

Should that come to fruition, spring games will go from rite to relic.

To each his own, Napier said.

Im either going to have coaches tampering with my players, or Im going to have a fan base thats pissed off at not having a spring game.

Its pick your poison.

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This article has been shared from the original article on journalnow, here is the link to the original article.