Football Team Adjusts to Spring Season

The fall 2020 Bluefield College football season has been postponed after three divisions in the Mid-South Conference decided to reschedule play for the spring of 2021 because of the risks related to COVID-19.

COVID-19 has affected a number of sports in fall 2020 with many collegiate conferences postponing and even canceling seasons. For a majority of the summer, the Mid-South Conference had planned to play its football season this fall. Bluefield College is a member of the Appalachian Division of the Mid-South Conference, which had originally announced plans this summer to play an eight-game season of conference-only games this fall that would limit travel and the risks of COVID. That all changed according to BC athletic director Tonia Walker when positive cases of the coronavirus began to increase and it became obvious that the safest option was to move the football season to the spring.

“The conference made every effort to create an opportunity for our student-athletes to compete (in the fall),” Walker said, “and as a former collegiate student-athlete, I empathize with the disappointment this created for everyone associated with our football program. I truly believe and agree that this was the right decision.”

The decision by the Mid-South Conference in early August to move the football season to the spring hit players and coaches of the Bluefield College football team hard, because everyone was ready for the start of the season and because football was the only fall sport delayed until the spring.

“The team was disappointed, because everyone wanted to play in the fall,” said junior quarterback Bryce Verble, “but this allows more practice and time with the coaches.”

Head coach Dewey Lusk, who is seeking to become the winningest coach in program history, was also disappointed about the season being pushed back, but agreed it was the right thing to do to limit travel and to let all the COVID cases die down as much as possible.

“My main concern is the players’ safety” Coach Lusk said, “and to try to limit the number of positive cases so we can play in the spring. That still doesn’t take away that we want to play.”

Players and coaches prepare for the season in different ways, but playing a sport in an entirely different time of year could potentially change that. Verble said, “having a little longer time until the season can be a good thing” as it gives players more practice time on the field and more time in the weight room. Coach Lusk agreed, adding that it’s an opportunity for the younger players to learn the system and to get ready for the season.

“In a regular season the young guys have a month to prepare and now they have a whole semester to get ready,” Coach Lusk said. “They will be better prepared.”

Coach Lusk added that this year’s team has more seniors than ever before. The seniors, he said, “can help and show the freshmen how to better prepare.”

But both Lusk and Verble did say there will be challenges to playing in the spring versus the fall. They noted that playing in the spring will be cold at the beginning of the season, which is set to begin on February 6 and will feature an eight-game schedule.

Walker added that she is concerned about the football players competing in back-to-back seasons from spring to the fall. She said that kind of turnaround can be taxing on the student-athletes’ bodies with only a few months to recover. She said the move to the spring might also affect multiple sport student-athletes who may not be able to compete in multiple sports if they now fall in the same season.