Traditional Spring Football Could Be Replaced by NFL-Style OTAs

Spring football, as you know it, may soon cease to exist. College football is in a transformative moment, and spring football may soon go the way of the Dodo bird.

Ask somebody who played for Mark Stoops or Jerry Claiborne about spring football, and they’ll tell you the same thing: “It sucks.” Even as the physicality waned over the years, it’s not fun to spend five to six weeks on the practice field and hit the same people over and over again, without a real football game to prepare for.

Keeping players engaged for a lengthy period of time is challenging. That’s why Will Stein held a 7-on-7 game during the final week of his first spring practice. Coaches must be creative to get the most out of their players during spring football.

There’s also a balancing act involved. “You get better at football by playing football,” is a line Stein liked to use, but you can’t get better at football if your best players are injured. Threading the physicality needle in spring football is imperative. It’s something South Carolina has struggled with over the years. The Gamecocks lost a few offensive linemen in a previous spring game under Shane Beamer, and this spring, Jaccarius Peak, the top-ranked offensive tackle in the transfer portal, suffered a knee injury during a camaraderie-building basketball tournament.

To put it simply, spring football is a necessary evil. College football coaches are asking the question, “Does it have to be?”

The Proposed Spring Football Solution

There isn’t spring football in the NFL. Why do they need to have it in college?

The idea was first kicked around at the 2025 AFCA Coaches’ Convention, and it’s picking up steam. The NCAA Oversight Committee is considering a proposal to replace spring football with OTAs. The proposal was also shared with coaches at this week’s ACC spring meetings.

Instead of squeezing in 15 spring football practices over a 5-week period, coaches would be allowed to practice with their team 21 times during the offseason. Unlike traditional spring football, OTAs would not be constricted by time, allowing coaches to have a flexible offseason calendar.

Some could have three, 4-week practice sessions. Others might choose to break it up even more, or simply tack it onto their previously scheduled spring football calendar.

“If they were to give us more flexibility on when we can actually have those practices, then I just think it just gives you more options, and you can kind of tailor it to whatever you need in your program,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake told The Athletic. “I like the fact that they’re understanding the concept and then letting people just kind of govern themselves with the regulations that they give.”

Problems that Need to be Addressed

Spring football serves more purposes than player development. It’s a vital time to host high school recruits, many of which plan multiple unofficial visits during their high school spring break. If OTAs are implemented, it will be imperative to schedule a portion of them in late-March and early-April.

Adding OTAs also gives coaches a reason to cancel spring football games. Injuries and the transfer portal have neutered them in recent years, but it’s still a time to let your players feel what it’s like to play in front of fans in the stands. In the revenue-sharing and NIL era, schools are asking more from fans than ever before. Taking something away from those fans is not the best business practice.

Surely, a compromise can be made. Even if it’s not a traditional spring game, an open practice followed by a meet-and-greet fans, similar to Kentucky football fan days of the past, could serve as a replacement.

There are many proposals to change the college football calendar. It’s difficult to discern what’s next for the postseason, but as for the offseason, spring football may be replaced by OTAs as soon as 2027. Prepare accordingly.