Matt Allen heard the rumors, so did his teammates.
So, when Michigan State coach Mel Tucker called the entire team onto the indoor field at the Duffy Daugherty Building about midway through practice on Aug. 11, Allen anticipated the bad news that was quickly delivered. The Big Ten canceled all fall sports, with the possibility of playing in the spring, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“At lot of guys were just kind of in shock at first and they didn’t really believe it,” Allen, a fifth-year senior center, said during a Zoom call with reporters on Wednesday.
The decision brought finality to a season that was in jeopardy since the NCAA in March canceled all remaining winter sports championships, including the men’s basketball tournament, and all spring sports championships. The Big Ten was the first Power Five conference to cancel the fall football season (the Pac-12 followed the same day) and commissioner Kevin Warren cited health and safety concerns.
COVID-19 has killed more than 821,000 people worldwide, including more than 179,000 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“The Big Ten had to make a decision,” Allen said, “and I think it was the right decision at the end of the day just to keep everybody healthy and safe.”
That decision, however, has been questioned by some players, coaches and parents. Warren has been criticized for not being transparent about the process and the vote, although he said Big Ten presidents and chancellors were “overwhelmingly” in support of not playing this fall. None of the four Michigan State players who spoke with reporters on Wednesday – Allen, senior cornerback Dominique Long, senior linebacker Antjuan Simmons and redshirt junior quarterback Rocky Lombardi – voiced opposition to the decision.
“At the end of the day, I think that nobody can be really too mad at the decision made because safety should be a top priority,” Long said. “So we understand why they did what they did. … There’s a good reason to why our season would be delayed. Football is a contact sport so of course that’s an easy way to spread a virus in a sense.”
There was frustration about the process and lack of answers players were provided, especially as the season appeared closer to starting. The NCAA is giving all fall sports athletes an additional year of eligibility and an extra year in which to complete it, but that ruling didn’t come down until Friday.
“It was just the fact that the information was taking so long to get to us, which was the issue,” Simmons said. “I think people would have been fine with either decision, whether we canceled it or had a season. It was just the fact it came Aug. 11 instead of before camp or at the beginning of August. Everybody would have had time to prep instead of having the whole conference in practice, going through workouts, doing everything they’re supposed to be doing getting ready for the season and then, at the snap of a finger, we’re told we’re not having a season.”
After spending three months at home, Michigan State players returned to campus in mid-June ahead of voluntary workouts and an extended summer schedule. The Spartans started fall camp on Aug. 7, but the following day the Big Ten announced practice restrictions, preventing teams from using pads. And just four days after Michigan State started practice, the Big Ten pulled the plug.
“I wanted to play,” Simmons said. “I firmly believe that everybody wanted to play, it’s just the fact that the conference couldn’t give us everything we needed and provide us with everything we needed to have a safe environment we could play football in. That’s how I took it. I understand where Commissioner Warren and the rest of the conference was coming from with postponing the season.”
By the time the Big Ten scrapped the fall season, Michigan State’s roster was already reduced. Four players – senior starting defensive end Jacub Panasiuk, senior starting right tackle Jordan Reid, redshirt freshman linebacker Marcel Lewis and true freshman offensive lineman Justin Stevens – all publicly opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns.
“We had guys all over the place,” Simmons said. “At the end of the day, guys showed up, did what they had to do. Guys chose to make their decisions. We had that option to opt out or if we’re going to be here we had to be completely locked in. It couldn’t be you’re hanging out here and doing this and that.”
A chief complaint among those critical of Warren and the Big Ten was timing. The conference on Aug. 5 announced revised, 10-game, conference-only schedules for teams with the season beginning the weekend of Sept. 5. The schedule was also designed with built-in flexibility to push back the start of the season as late as Sept. 26. But it was completely nixed just six days after it was unveiled.
“When they released the schedule, it kind of gave us a little bit of false hope, I would say, in just that everybody was getting ready for the season in the fall and starting to get excited to play football again and be back in Spartan Stadium,” Allen said. “When they came out with the news, it was kind of just like another punch to the stomach, just kind of took the air out of us for a second.”
After the fall season was canceled, Simmons said he gave himself 24 hours to be disappointed, then moved on.
“It’s heartbreaking and it’s a little disheartening,” he said, “but at the same time, you can’t hang your head or be down.”
Allen said he grabbed some food after leaving practice on Aug. 11 and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with roommate Connor Heyward, a redshirt junior running back. That night, Tucker had a videoconference with players and their parents, explaining what comes next, and that was a 6 ½ week strength and conditioning program that started the following day.
“We’re going to keep pushing, keep working because, regardless, we’re going to put the work in,” Long said. “Whenever that season comes, whenever we get the opportunity to showcase what we have, we’re going to do it to the best of our ability. We have high goals, we have high expectations so, either way, we’re going to work our hardest every day and try and showcase our talents, accomplish our goals.”
The Big Ten hasn’t announced details about a spring season, although Michigan State athletic director Bill Beekman said the goal would be for it to be designed in a way that gives players enough time off for a full 2021 fall season. Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said the conference is looking at games in January and February in domed stadiums. Meanwhile, the players will continue to wait and work.
“How can we just continue to improve because we’re going to play one day,” Lombardi said. “Maybe it’s not this fall, maybe it’s not this spring, but eventually we’re going to play.”
Get Spartan Confidential texts straight to your phone from our Michigan State football writers. Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with our beat reporters, just like you would with your friends. It costs $4.99 a month but you will get a 60-day free trial by texting 517-343-1808 to sign up now.
Related Michigan State football stories:
Michigan State president Samuel Stanley on COVID-19 football concerns and basketball in a bubble
4-star New Jersey OL Geno VanDeMark commits to Michigan State
Fall sports athletes receive eligibility protection from NCAA
Spartan Confidential podcast: Big Ten football is canceled, what does it mean for Michigan State?
Michigan State athletes can continue workouts on campus despite move to online classes