Maryland head coach Mike Locksley thinks B1G return will be 'sooner rather than later'
There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the B1G. While the conference made the decision on Aug. 11 to postpone the 2020 football season, there’s a lot of talk about the league potentially working towards resuming play at some point this fall.
Maryland head coach Mike Locksley thinks B1G football will be back sooner rather than later.
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Locksley joined the Paul Finebaum Show on Friday to talk about the situation going on in the conference. Talks of a January start date and potential Thanksgiving week kickoff date have been the primary targets for the conference up to this point.
However, there is some talk about the B1G being ready to go by mid- to late-October. While Locksley didn’t provide a specific date or timeframe, he does expect the conference to start its season soon.
“For us, we’ve been meeting every week as head coaches with the commissioner and all the powers that be up there in the Big Ten office,” Locksley said. “We’re trying to find a way to return to play as safely and as healthy as we can. There have been a lot of models, a lot of things talked about, but still haven’t had any decisions made. I do feel, as I’ve said before, that we’re going to play at some point. I think it’ll be sooner rather than later. For us as coaches, the teams that are able to adjust and adapt will be the ones who find success. What we’re trying to do here at Maryland, and what I’m trying to do, is control what we can control so that we can be ready to go whenever we decide as a conference to return to play.”
Saturday morning, both Heather Dinich of ESPN and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported that the B1G Return to Competition Task Force will be meeting with eight university presidents on Saturday to discuss potential safe plans for a restart to the season. This seems to be the most promising development since the league postponed the season on Aug. 11.
If things go well on Saturday, there’s potential for a re-vote on the season on Sunday.