On Monday morning the Big Ten Conference announced that they have extended their suspension on organized team activities from May 4th to at least June 1st.
The initial stage of the suspension of sports by the Big Ten Conference began on March 12th when they announced the cancellation of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament. The following day the conference announced that they were cancelling all conference and non-conference competitions through the end of the academic year. The conference also has a moratorium on all on and off campus recruiting activities for the foreseeable future.
In the next month the Big Ten says they will continue to work with medical experts and leadership at their institutions for the next steps relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late last week, University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld told the Iowa Board of Regents that he was hopeful that Hawkeye student-athletes could return to campus on June 1st to resume practice and training.
"We have a moratorium on all team-related activities until June 1. We're ever so hopeful that this virus will be behind us at that point, and we'll be able to get back into what we normally do,” Harreld said. “"June 1 is the date we're going to get back to practice and here we go."
After making those comments to the Board of Regents, Harreld then released a statement to further clarify his remarks.
"As I said, in conjunction with our fellow members of the Big Ten, we are exploring all options. But our first priority is the health and safety of our student athletes and fans”
What this means for the Iowa football program is the earliest they could return to campus and resume in-person training with the strength and conditioning staff is June 1st. This also means that incoming players would not be able to join their teammates in a structured setting for the first time until the beginning of June.
This also impacts the Iowa football camps that are traditionally held during the month of June. All camps on the Iowa campus are currently suspended until June 13th. Iowa currently has camps on May 31st, June 1st, June 6th, June 7th, and June 10th listed as suspended on their website. They still have camps on June 14th and 18th listed as still taking place.
In addition, Iowa has their annual big recruiting weekend set for June 19th. This is mainly an official visit weekend with 18 prospects scheduled to visit Iowa City, including all 14 of the currently committed players from the Class of 2021. At this point, Iowa is proceeding with the understanding that the recruiting weekend will take place as scheduled.