The state of California raises practice limits to 75 student-athletes

The State of California has officially changed its health guidelines as it pertains to the limitations on number of participants in organized team practices for the university system. Formerly, it allowed a maximum of 12 student-athletes to participate in practices, obviously making it near-impossible for a football team to complete an actual practice, but according to new guidelines, those limitations are now placed at 75 student-athletes.

The guidelines read ‘if daily antigen testing is the adopted protocol, teams may train outdoors in groups of no more than 75.’

The protocol adopted will be daily testing, thanks in part to the Pac-12’s partnership with the FDA-approved Quidel Corporation for daily tests. The guidelines also read that it is recommended to split the team into cohorts of groups of no more than 25 to help limit the spread, if a virus outbreak were to occur.

Even as much as 7-on-7 wasn’t going to be allowed under the former guidelines from the state, but now a full-go, 11-on-11 practice scrimmage can take place and be fully compliant.

According to ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura, each local government for Stanford, Cal, USC and UCLA will still require their athletic departments to submit “written, facility-specific COVID-19 prevention plan at every facility, perform a comprehensive risk assessment of all work and athletic areas, and designate a person at each facility to implement the plan,” which was also written in the new guidelines.

That latter bit is certainly going to be monitored closely but the California Golden Bears are as good as back.

Well, sooner rather than later, that’s for sure.