Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh had the difficult job of breaking the news to his players on Tuesday that their fall season was postponed after a vote by Big Ten presidents and chancellors.
The Wolverines have been and will continue to prepare for their next opportunity to play (whenever that may be), as they're still allowed to hold 20 hours per week of practices without contact.
"Coach Harbaugh spoke with us the day of the announcement being made that the season was being canceled in the fall,” redshirt junior defensive back Hunter Reynolds said in an interview with Fox News on Friday. “Within a matter of hours and days, the coaching staff put together a real comprehensive plan that we feel like will put us in the best position possible, so whenever the season does start, we’re going to be prepared.”
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Reynolds, like many of his teammates, coaches and others around the country, is disappointed that they won't have the opportunity to play ball this fall.
“Football is just something I just put so much time and dedication into along with the rest of my teammates,” Reynolds said. “We’ve been working since January for it and we really felt in this situation that the reward outweighed the risk. We thought we could play football and the university could keep us as safe as possible this season. And that’s just how we felt as players.”
Fifth-year senior defensive back Tyler Cochran was one who took to social media after the conference's cancellation, calling the presidents of the league "incompetent," and adding that it wasn't surprising U-M president Mark Schlissel didn't consult the student-athletes before casting his vote, since he'd "never seen him in the facility in my 4-plus years here."
Reynolds, too, believes the athletes should've had some input.
“I think we definitely feel like our opinion and our voice wasn’t heard in the matter,” he said. “And that if there were a conversation throughout the summer, throughout — ever since March Madness was canceled, if there was those conversations, we feel like we could have come out with a plan and just made everyone who was in charge of making those decisions realize that — obviously there’s no way to eliminate the risk in a situation like this, but there were measures that could have been taken to limit the risk as much as possible. As players, we feel like that didn’t happen.”
In the Big Ten's statement, it said the league will explore the possibility of playing fall sports in the spring. Many believe it is unlikely to happen, especially because of the wear and tear that a player's body goes through during the course of a season. To turn around and play again in the fall could be problematic.
Like many, Reynolds wants those with the proper authority to begin planning as soon as possible, with input from players, so that the right decision can be made about returning to competition.
“I think playing two seasons in one calendar year is certainly something that’s never been done before,” Reynolds said. “But I think if we start planning for it now, we actually start including players in the conversation in how to move forward, I think that everyone can come to an agreement on the best step to move forward.”
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