Update, June 11: According to a report by Pete Thamel, a national college athletics reporter for Yahoo Sports, the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee has approved a plan for a six-week college football preseason.

Breaking: The NCAA football oversight committee has formally passed on recommendations on a football preseason practice schedule, sources tell @YahooSports. This is a huge step toward college football returning. Details here: https://t.co/z1MoVZ6TZ6

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 11, 2020

The plan allows for coaches to begin formally working with their teams on July 13. Full preseason practices are scheduled to begin on August 7.

The oversight committee’s recommendation for the plan still needs to be approved by the NCAA Division I Council, which meets next on June 17. According to Thamel’s report, the council’s vote is “expected to be a formality.”

Original Story: Another step has been taken in the right direction for the future of college football this fall.

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee is expected to approve a six-week preseason practice plan in the coming days. The NCAA Division I Council, which is scheduled to meet next on June 17, will also need to approve the plan.

Shane Lyons, the chair of the Oversight Committee and athletic director at West Virginia, told Sports Illustrated that just slight adjustments will be made to the plan in the next few days. He also stated that the committee is “90% there.”

Phase one of the plan is already underway, as players are allowed to take part in voluntary workouts and eight hours of virtual instruction per week from coaches from June 1 to June 25. According to the report, teams will be permitted to hold mandatory workouts with players in-person as early as July 13. This would also have to be held at least 25 days before the first permissible preseason practice date.

The next phase of the plan will allow players and coaches to meet for walk-throughs and meetings for a total of 20 hours per week. This phase will begin on July 24. Teams will then be allowed to fully participate in preseason practices on August 7, or 29 days before the team’s first game. Teams playing their first games of the season during “Week 0” will be allowed to move each phase of the plan up one week.

Lyons explained in Sports Illustrated’s report that the final version of the plan could include slight adjustments to each start date.

75 Penn State football student-athletes returned to campus on Monday as part of the university’s phased return to offseason activities and workouts. Each student-athlete was tested and quarantined upon their return to campus. Those who are cleared after that process will be allowed to participate in voluntary workouts beginning on Monday, June 15.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has clearly stated that fall sports won’t take place without students on campus, but Penn State football head coach James Franklin and vice president for intercollegiate athletics Sandy Barbour have both supported a roughly six-week contingency plan.

“I think you definitely can do it under six weeks. I think you can do it in a month,” Franklin said in May about a return plan.

Barbour stated in April that the football team will likely need approximately 60 days to be fully prepared for the 2020 season to start on time.