MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Along with the pings of bats and golf clubs, smacks of tennis rackets and the pounding of track shoes, sports fans can usually hear sounds coming from the Middle Tennessee practice football field during late March and the beginning of April.
That's not the case this year.
With the NCAA's ruling that all spring sports have been canceled and practices halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, spring football practice was also abandoned. It made for a pretty sad and unusual time for Blue Raiders head coach Rick Stockstill, who's taken part in some form of college spring practice since he was a quarterback at Florida State from 1977-82.