Tom Herman, Texas ready to make most of six-week summer calendar

Texas head coach Tom Herman has gone on record about college football programs needing roughly six weeks of preparation in order to avoid the coronavirus pandemic impacting the start of the 2020 season. The NCAA Football Oversight Committee has proposed exactly that — a six-week calendar for schools to follow in order to be ready to roll opening weekend.

The proposal needs final approval from the NCAA Division I Council before it becomes official, but Herman and his fellow head coaches across the country are planning ahead as much as possible based on the framework of the calendar. While the proposal allows for two weeks of walkthrough practices leading up to camp — meaning the Longhorns won’t be completely flying blind heading into August after restrictions put in place due to the pandemic wiped out all of spring practice — Herman was hoping programs like Texas, that haven’t been on the field for full-speed football activities since the conclusion of the 2019 season, would be allowed more football-intensive team workouts than what the proposal outlines.

“To be honest with you, no,” Herman said during a video conference with reporters on Thursday when asked if liked the proposed workout periods leading up to the season. “I was hoping — for a lot of us that were not able to participate in spring practice — that we would have the ability to have some sort of full-speed activity. Every proposal that I’ve seen thus far shows a lot of walkthroughs, a lot of meetings, but no real 11-on-11, 7-on-7, full-speed activities. That was disappointing.

“Certainly, at this juncture, I’m not complaining either,” he added. “We’ll take everything that we can get at this point. (The proposed calendar) is very well thought out and that’s the proposal we’re working off of in terms of planning.”

The Big 12 Conference is allowing Texas and the league’s nine other football-playing members to begin voluntary workouts on June 15. The proposal allows voluntary workouts for players and up to eight hours of virtual activities to continue through Sunday, July 13.

Beginning July 14, football programs would then be able to hold required summer workouts, which would include up to eight hours of weight training, conditioning and film review (no more than two hours per week) per week through Thursday, July 23. Schools would then get 14 days (ending Thursday, Aug. 6) to go through 20 hours per week of countable athletically related activities, which would include the aforementioned eight hours along with up to one hour per day for a walkthrough practice (may include the use of a football) and up to one hour per day of meetings (team meetings, position meetings, etc.).

According to the proposal, no more than six hours per week can be devoted to walkthrough practices or meetings. Additionally, the proposal would require two days off for players during the 14-day window.

If the proposal passes, the first preseason…