Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse and Colorado are seeking approval by the NCAA to schedule joint practices in Boulder, concluding with a scrimmage against the Buffaloes next month, coach Fran Brown said after Friday’s practice.
Colorado’s compliance office, along with Syracuse’s, have filed paperwork with the NCAA to get the scrimmage underway, a Syracuse spokesman said. The Division-I FBS Oversight Committee is set to meet on April 10 and could make a decision during its videoconference.
“This thing may very well happen,” Colorado head coach Deion Sanders told his team. “It looks really good right now.”
Teams are allowed 15 practices within a 35-day window during the spring. Colorado’s spring game is set for April 19 and will air on ESPN2. Syracuse’s last practice is April 16 as the Orange will hold two practices after the April 12 spring game.
Brown and his team would alter its practice schedule, the school said, to adhere to NCAA regulations and be able to scrimmage the Buffaloes.
“For us to be the first to do it at two historic schools would mean a lot,” Brown said following Syracuse’s first spring practice. “Two African-American men, too. To have the opportunity of doing that means a lot. Especially with [Deion Sanders] being an icon.”
Sanders introduced the idea during his Monday press conference, wanting spring practice to look a bit more like the joint practices of the NFL preseason. Brown, who speaks to Sanders on a consistent basis and tried to recruit Shiloh Sanders while he was at Baylor, offered Syracuse’s services for three days.
“It will help the game,” Brown said of teams holding joint practices every spring. “Nobody wants to have spring games anymore. Nobody wants to worry about the portal. …I’m just confident in who I am and what i do for the players.”
Brown previously said he will continue to hold spring games and will not fear transfer portal tampering.
While spring scrimmages aren’t allowed under NCAA bylaws, the two programs are actively lobbying the NCAA for a quick change to bring the exhibition to fruition within the next month.
“Let us show how it can get done,” Brown said on the “The Players Club” podcast this week, hosted by former Clemson player Darien Rencher. “Let us be the experiment because we’re going to blow it up.”
Brown and Sanders both insist the joint practices won’t be all to a potential collaboration. The two have discussed their players partaking in financial literacy sessions and a session to emphasize the importance of academics.
“I think a lot of his morals and values line up with some of mine,” Brown said of Sanders. “We’re not completely the same but we’ve got a lot of the same subculture.”
