Brent Pry would ‘entertain’ playing Colorado in spring game

With all the talk about college football teams canceling or altering traditional end-of-Spring scrimmages, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders recently sparked a conversation about potentially facing off against another program in what amounts to a true Spring game.

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown has already reached out and appeared to accept Sanders’ public challenge of a joint Spring scrimmage/practice. And now, it appears, Virginia Tech‘s Brent Pry is also game.

“We would entertain that,” Pry said during a Tuesday press conference. “Again, I like the traditional model right now. But as things continue to evolve, if it’s good for Virginia Tech, if it’s good for us, then I’d be open to it.”

Sanders sees college football from an NFL lens, and appears to be angling toward implementing a similar joint scrimmage format to the NFL’s preseason model. There, opposing teams practice against one another before the teams face off in a preseason game.

“The Spring Game will be televised on ESPN2 … on the 19th,” Sanders said. “We got to sell this thing out and pack this thing because the way the trend is going, you never know if this is going to be the last spring game. I don’t believe in that. I don’t really want to condone that. I would like to play in the spring. Actually, I (would) like to play against another team in the spring. That’s what I’m trying to do right now. 

“To have a competitive (game) against your own guys kind of gets monotonous. You really can’t tell the level of your guys because, you know, it’s the same old, same way. Everybody kind of know each other. Towards the end, I would like to style it like the pros. I would like to practice against someone for a few days, then you have the spring game and I think the public will be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it’s a tremendous idea. I’ve told those personnel who should understand that it’s a tremendous idea.”

Third-year Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule sparked a trend last month when he announced he was canceling the Cornhuskers’ annual Spring game. He did so citing a concern about rival teams tampering with his roster following last year’s scrimmage.

Since then, other FBS programs such as reigning national champion Ohio State, Texas, USC, Florida State, Missouri, and NC State, among others, have outright canceled their traditional Spring scrimmage, citing various reasons, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Other programs like Alabama, Arizona, Oklahoma and Ole Miss have announced plans for an alternative event in place of a traditional scrimmage, with the Sooners planning a “Crimson Combine” and the Rebels putting on their “Grove Bowl Games” for the second straight Spring.

— On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this report.