Slowly but surely, we are moving closer to the start of the college football season, at least we hope we are. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s going on both on and off the field in the sport.
Paused
Indiana has become the latest football program to press the pause button on voluntary workouts after six players tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Michigan announced just four positive tests from a group of 121 players and coaches. This comes on the heels of Ohio State suspending voluntary workouts after a slew of positive cases.
Of course, the Big Ten is one of two power conferences to announce that they will be limiting fall sports to conference games only this season.
Early Testing
The American Athletic Conference announced this week that all football players will be tested for COVID-19 at least 72 hours before every game. The AAC is the first conference to announce a scheduling policy for football games this fall.
It’s likely that the NCAA and other conferences will adopt similar testing policies. However, guidelines and protocols for testing and team activities are still being developed before the official start of training camps around the country.
Leaving Town
The Auburn Tigers lost two players this week, with both wide receiver Zach Farrar and running back Malik Miller leaving the program. Farrar caught just three passes in 2019, which will end up being his only season at Auburn.
The Tigers were actually his fourth stop after Farrar attended two junior colleges and Youngstown State before coming to Auburn. He’s in the transfer portal as a grad transfer.
Meanwhile, Miller is not officially in the transfer portal, and the reason he’s leaving Auburn is unclear. He saw action in 35 games during his career at Auburn, and it remains to be seen if he’ll use his final year of eligibility elsewhere.
That Was Fast
It didn’t take former UNLV quarterback Armani Rogers long to find a new home after entering the transfer portal last week. Rogers has decided to join the Ohio Bobcats for his final year of eligibility.
Rogers has struggled with his throwing accuracy during his career at UNLV despite being the Mountain West Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2017. However, he should be a good fit for the run-heavy offense Frank Solich runs at Ohio.
Rogers will replace Nathan Rourke, who finished his career at Ohio as one of the most productive quarterbacks in program history.
Utah State Shakeup
Things are getting wild at Utah State, as the Aggies are trying to replace starting quarterback Jordan Love, who was drafted by the Packers in the first round of this year’s draft. First, the Aggies added quarterback Jason Shelley, a grad transfer from the rival Utah Utes.
That prompted quarterback Henry Colombi to leave Utah State by entering the transfer portal. Colombi was Love’s backup in 2019 and appeared to have the inside track on being the Utah State starter in 2020.
Of course, that changed when Shelley transferred, so Colombi has decided not to stick around and compete for his spot. It now appears that Shelley will walk into the starting job at Utah State after starting five career games for the Utes.
Ready and Available
Speaking of quarterbacks, former Marshall quarterback Isaiah Green is in the transfer portal and available on the open market. Green has started for the Thundering Herd over the last two seasons, throwing 30 touchdown passes to 21 interceptions while completing 56.5% of his passes.
He’s also a good athlete and a productive runner. It’s a big loss for Marshall, which probably didn’t think Green would transfer.
Redshirt freshman Grant Wells is considered the favorite to take over for Doc Holliday’s team. Meanwhile, it’ll be interesting to see where Green lands, especially this late in the offseason.
