Updated schedule, regulations create unpredictability for Peninsula football’s senior class
After two and a half decades as Peninsula’s football coach, Ross Filkins made quite the claim about his 2020-2021 squad.
“I’ve been coaching for twenty-five years, and we’ve had some really strong teams… but this might be our strongest team,” Filkins said. “I feel comfortable that we’ll have ten or twelve seniors playing college football next year.”
And despite a talent-packed roster and once-in-a-career senior class, the Seahawks have yet to take the field due to the coronavirus pandemic. And months after the WIAA restructured the fall athletic season to begin in March, that plan now has to change once again.
On Nov. 18, the WIAA’s Executive Board voted to push back the start dates for all high school sports; the winter season, which had planned to begin Dec. 28, now plans to commence on Feb. 1. The fall season immediately follows with a March 15 start date, and spring programs cannot meet for practice until April 26.
But these developments have also allowed for an extension of the out-of-season coaching period for Peninsula sports, as outdoor-based teams can practice through Jan. 23 if adhering to safety guidelines and regulations.
Indoor sports, with the exception of pools, can no longer gather, after recent orders by the Governor’s office prohibited all indoor extracurricular meetings for the next four weeks.
Filkins says his team plans to continue their team meetings on a biweekly basis, albeit without equipment.
“We’re monitoring the situation,” Filkins said. “We would actually like to issue helmets and pads soon, but we’re waiting for what would be an appropriate time to do that. It doesn’t look a whole lot like football at this point, but we do feel like we’re getting a lot done. The kids are having a good time. It’s productive.”
What can be overlooked throughout the suspension of high school athletics, however, are the difficulties within the recruiting process for college-bound student-athletes.
The NCAA recently extended their recruiting dead period -- which prohibits on-campus visits for prospective athletes -- through April 15, which serves as a continuing hindrance for both sides in regard to generating college offers and commitments between schools and players. Filkins says that some colleges could also endure budget restraints on scholarship allocations as well, and while the pandemic continues to spread, there’s no reason to assume these difficulties will resolve.
“[The dead period extension is] further compromising the opportunity to get kids on to (campuses) and for colleges to evaluate them, but also for kids to evaluate how a school might serve their needs as well,” Filkins said. “It’s really challenging right now.”
Peninsula’s seniors may be sorting through these difficulties more than their south sound counterparts, considering much of their loaded class has yet to commit.
Though some Seahawk seniors have committed -- take Peninsula’s Sean Skladany and his Division-I commitment to Eastern Washington, for example -- others had banked on their final season to make a splash in the recruiting scene.
“It’s a little challenging right now just because some of our seniors are very well-established players that had complete seasons,” Filkins said. “They’re a bit more of a known commodity… guys like Sean Skladany, who was the MVP of the South Sound Conference. But there are some other kids… some late bloomers, or those that had their seasons impacted by injuries. For instance, Landon Sims… last year, he had just a devastating year of injuries, but he is going to be a dynamite college football player. It is a tough situation for kids like that, trying to find an appropriate setting.”
But what could serve as a positive throughout Washington’s high school athletic hiatus comes from 39 other states, who have participated in interscholastic activities. WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman delivered an op-ed on Nov. 19 that highlights studies throughout the country (including one within Washington state) that suggests low transmission rates from participation in sports among student-athletes.
It’s unclear whether the WIAA’s new restructuring of the athletic calendar will fluctuate once again, or if the NCAA’s recruiting process finds any sort of ease throughout the following months.
Yet Filkins remains optimistic.
“It’s been tough on these kids,” Filkins said. “There’s no doubt about it. But I still feel like we’re going to be able to come together and create a great opportunity for these guys to make some memories.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.