Piecing together what Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins’ reimagined fall semester on campus might mean to sports — particularly football — starts, predictably, with a hypothetical.
And some math. And unaccidental silence on the topic from Jenkins himself in an open letter/news release that dropped late Monday afternoon. In it, Jenkins outlines a fall term that will start with in-person classes two weeks early (on Aug. 10), eliminate fall break in October, and finish before Thanksgiving in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
There will be no summer classes on campus either, with a few exceptions — a certainty previously through the first summer term and now extended to its second term.
Roughly two weeks ago, though, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick presented a hypothetical that could allow football players and other fall sports athletes to return to campus for training ahead of the general student population.
That’s not a given at this point — and Swarbrick was not available for comment Monday for an update — but the possibility of it keeps the concepts of both a full football season and one that starts on time both in play for the Irish.
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