The New NCAA Offseason Rule: SEC Coaches Celebrate Change on S&C

The New NCAA Offseason Rule: Coaches are allowed up to eight hours of mandatory summer workouts each week, including up to two hours of film study.

If you have not already heard, the NCAA made concessions this year to the formerly impractically strict offseason rules. In short, coaches can mandate training (up to 8 hours a week) and also include up two to film study as well. This new NCAA rule is massively important because previously all summer workouts were considered voluntary. Why was this? Well, the NCAA saw it as a way to prevent coaches from overwhelming athletes all year long. However, this rule was a bad joke for a few reasons.

First, although the offseason is technically "voluntary," there is still a penalty associated with not showing up or participating. Players absent or missing from offseason workouts are seen as not as committed or lazy which in turn makes it harder for the player to earn playing time with their position coach. That is just a natural evaluation process for anything in life. Secondly, poor offseason strength and conditioning ends up with injuries which many studies have confirmed.

No point in dwelling on the past though, SEC coaches are excited to have the new NCAA offseason rule and did as much to speak up for it at the SEC Media this year:

"It does increase the intensity level when our guys are on the field," - Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen

"It promotes greater accountability in strength and conditioning, which should help players be more physically prepared in August." - Georgia Coach Mark Richt

- Tennessee Coach Butch Jones likes it because it is beneficial when trying to get Freshman physically and mentally prepared

- Richt stresses that it will also benefit the teams
academically because they can hold the players accountable throughout
the summer: "Back when there was no accountability at all in the
summer, we couldn't do that... So I thought [the old rule] hurt our accountability
academically as well."