We have plans for high school football, but the 2020 season will be different | Kreager

In the end, two questions exist.

How can we have high school football this school year? And how can we do it safely in a world where the coronavirus exists without a vaccine?

Folks, if you haven't come to the realization that high school sports will look different in the 2020-21 school year, here is one final wakeup call.

Football is an unknown given Gov. Bill Lee's executive order limiting high school contact sports — which also include basketball, soccer and wrestling among TSSAA sports. Those sports cannot have contact drills until Aug. 30 under the current order. 

But we now know the TSSAA has plans where it can hold football or girls soccer this fall. That is what we need right now, plans.

The COVID-19 pandemic has kept us away from high school sports since mid-March. In it, the TSSAA has chosen to follow the lead of the governor and the NFHS when it comes to high school sports and how they can safely return.

The biggest criticism toward the TSSAA and its staff has been its passive approach in letting individual school systems figure out their own specific plan to hold workouts. It's led to inequality in that some schools started workouts long before schools in other parts of the state. And school systems in Clarksville, Memphis and Nashville have yet to start.

But now, we can see plans to hold a season.

It's what was needed after Monday's executive order that sent the TSSAA in a scramble and left coaches wondering if football would be played.

The TSSAA has also met with the governor's office and asked to present a plan where the executive order may not include high school sports. That would allow for a normal season in regard to length. The TSSAA is gathering more information and will present it.

What safety measures are included in that plan aren't known. However, frequent COVID-19 tests aren't feasible.

Appealing to the governor is something that should have happened much sooner. But perhaps it has come just soon enough to salvage the entire regular season and postseason.

If not, three options have been presented to be voted on. One provides a seven-game season with a regular postseason format. The second is for an eight-game season and 16-team postseason bracket and a third is for nine games with an eight-team postseason format. The TSSAA would also set the region schedules.

Are any ideal in a perfect world? No. 

For now, it's better than not having a season at all. We witnessed this with the cancellation of spring sports and no one wants to see that again.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.