Jon Jansen and Brian Boesch discussed the news that has captivated the college football world this week on their 'In the Trenches' podcast — the Big Ten's decision to cancel its fall sports, and specifically how it will impact the Michigan Wolverines' program.
The duo hit on several topics, ranging from the heartbreak that the players and coaches currently feel to the possibilities of playing football in the spring.
We have the highlights below.
Jon Jansen
On the heartbreak for the players and coaches: "'If you're Jim Harbaugh or any head coach, you have to stand in front of your team and tell them the season isn't going to happen.
"I don't want to say it's any different than when Juwan Howard told his team the Big Ten Tournament wasn't going to happen. The caveat here is that this is a full season. When you stand and look down at your team, you see not only the faces staring back at you, but also the first time you walked into their home to recruit them.
"Being a senior at Michigan is a really big deal — we've always played for our seniors. Some excelled right away as freshmen, while others struggled at first but kept moving forward.
"They all made it to this senior class and all have individual stories. It's not just about telling them what's going on, but seeing their lives forever changed. When you hear from these coaches, you're hearing the passion and the caring they have, and the way they want to stand by their players."
On the lack of uniformity among conferences: "Two Power Five conferences have said they're not playing — the Big Ten and Pac-12. Will the others play a season? We don't know, but I think there's a good chance they do.
"There is no uniformity, and that's something we've been looking at over the course of the past five months. That needs to be addressed. It was highlighted in regards to protocols and testing for a football season.
"Jim Harbaugh had said we could put out a team who had tested negative — do we know that on the other side though? This shows the disparity of where things are and how decisions could be made, but they're not being made."
On how safe it is in Michigan's football building: "There is no proof that any of the positive tests have come from U-M's athletic facility. It's safe there. It's as virus-free in this world as some of the medical communities are.
"Football players have a great motivation — if they know what's at stake, student-athletes are used to making those sacrifices. Part of that sacrifice was going to be not going to parties and not socializing with friends, because the season and your team were at stake.
"You knew you had to do that to even have a shot."
On the idea of spring football: "For 18 to 22-year olds, one of the best qualities is their ability to heal and recover. We would usually end one season around Jan. 1 and then start winter conditioning in a matter of weeks, and that would take us to spring ball.
"You could try and get in six or eight games in the spring and start them in March and go until the end of April. You then would have an offseason and push the start of the 2021 fall season back a little bit.
"There could be bye weeks and still get in a full schedule, while playing bowl games and a national championship as normal. The whole goal under normal circumstances is to play 15 games, and we've seen Clemson and Alabama do it on a regular basis.
"Playing 18 games over the spring and fall would have a break in between, and 18 isn't much more than 15. I think it's doable; the shortest hurdle to me is two seasons in one calendar year.
"It's about player safety as well; you don't know what the weather is going to be in March in Ann Arbor. You could have a beautiful 40-degree day, or a day that is snowy and icy.
"Would it be safe to put athletes on that field simply because you have to? I believe the motivation would be there to get through all these hurdles, because players want to play."
Brian Boesch
On the Big Ten's decision to cancel the season as a whole: "If you're playing college football at a high level, you've focused on it your entire life. Michigan and a lot of teams were doing things the right way, based on science and medical experts.
"When it's taken away, that's a raw feeling — it stings. I feel so badly for these student-athletes. You work out in January and February thinking about now and finally getting to fall camp.
"We've seen the Big 12 come out with a schedule and the ACC and SEC really pushing to make it happen. If those conferences get to the season, the question will arise: what are they doing that the Big Ten and Pac-12 didn't do? I'm skeptical.
"Why are we making judgements in a way that's almost condescending to people? For a college athlete, you already have to be disciplined. If you have a University that followed the protocols, you have to at least see how it goes.
"What rubbed me the wrong way was assuming it will all dissipate once the student body comes back to campus."
On potentially playing in the spring: "NFL teams are willing to help college football happen in NFL stadiums if it gets to that point. Within the Big Ten footprint, there have been conversations of where they could play indoors.
"It wouldn't be at The Big House. You've got Ford Field in Detroit, the Carrier Dome at Syracuse, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Minneapolis has an amazing facility, and they had the XFL in St. Louis last spring.
"It might help to alleviate the issues to put teams indoors to make sure it's not three ice bowls in the four games they'd play."
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