Big 12 Football: 3 most impactful opt-outs for the 2020 season

The 2020 season will be a volatile one around the Big 12 football conference, which is set to kickoff this weekend, on Sep. 12.

The start of the 2020 season for the Big 12 Football conference is somewhat up in the air for this coming weekend. The Big 12 was supposed to have their set of non-conference games for this fall start on Sep. 11 with the TCU Horned Frogs hosting their local rival SMU Mustangs in Fort Worth at Amon G. Carter Stadium. But the TCU-SMU game had to be pushed back in the wake of a few novel coronavirus cases in the Horned Frogs camp.

As far as the Texas football program goes, there are quite a few players that have announced that they’re opting out of the 2020 season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most significant of those aforementioned opt outs is definitely offensive lineman Willie Tyler and defensive lineman Marqez Bimage.

But the Longhorns are also set to be missing a key piece in senior running back Daniel Young this fall. Texas had to turn to the NCAA Transfer Portal once again to find depth help at a skill position to make up for the loss of Young, as they snagged former Division 2 running back Gabriel Watson as essentially a one-year rental.

There’s a few other opt outs around the Big 12 that could hurt the depth of those various programs dealing with the losses. But for the most part, the Big 12 wasn’t hit as hard with opt outs as that of the ACC, SEC, or even the American Athletic Conference.

You can view an entire list of FBS players that have opted out of the 2020 season, thanks to Athlon Sports here.

Nonetheless, opt outs can still impact big time programs in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a look at the three most impactful opt outs around the Big 12 for the 2020 season.