The college football offseason is starting to come to a close, as evidenced by today's release of NCAA Football 11. The release of this video game is always the first real sign that college football season is nearing, along with preview magazines soon hitting the shelves if they haven't already.
↵Things really start to ramp up the first week of Aug. during the Big Ten's media days. That is the precursor to football season and the true sign that actual football is back, because fall camps open a week later.
↵For Michigan, fall camp will open on Aug. 10, according to Joe Schad. Typically Michigan will spend a few days in just shorts and helmets and then start using full pads by the end of the week. Then the focus will turn to getting ready for the 2010 season, which begins on Sept. 4 when UConn comes to Ann Arbor. There will be a lot to learn in the short few weeks from the start of fall camp to the UConn game, especially for the freshmen who only arrived earlier this summer, but it is the final indicator that football season is almost back.