Friday night lights may not shine in 2020
DALLAS (BVM) — The college football season is up in the air. Both the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences recently announced they are moving to a conference-only schedule for the 2020 season. While most of the country is doing what it can to preserve the fall sports season, one of the most prominent states for high school football may not have a season.
Dallas Independent School District superintendent Michael Hinojosa told Garrett Haake of NBC News that he’s “pretty sure” there will be no Texas high school football in 2020.
If there is not a high school football season in Texas, it’s hard to see high school football taking place elsewhere, especially in popular states like Florida and California where coronavirus cases are on the rise.
If a decision to cancel high school football were to be made, it would affect countless student-athletes and high schools across the country. Making this decision could deliver a potentially devastating blow to the collegiate side of things as well, impacting recruiting for a handful of programs.
Among the top 100 football recruits in the 2021 class, 14 are from Texas, including seven of the top 50 overall players.
With more than a month to go before the beginning of the season, a survey of Texas high school football coaches done by TexasFootball shows how they feel about the season. A majority of them believe the season will not start on time and others believe the 2020 season won’t be finished if they do play.
The University Interscholastic League (UIL) still has a plan for a full season. They anticipate practices to begin on Aug. 3. That may prove difficult as some schools will not have face-to-face instruction until September. The UIL will update schools later this month.
