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Ed McCaffrey discusses 2021 season, new transfer QB Dylan McCaffrey

McCaffrey said UNC football hopes to hold scrimmages in the spring, while mainly focusing on the fall 2021 season.

GREELEY, Colo. — University of Northern Colorado (UNC) head football coach Ed McCaffrey held a virtual press conference Thursday morning to provide an update the status of the program and recruiting during the pandemic.

McCaffrey took the job in Greeley in December 2019, but has yet to coach a game due to the pandemic.

After not playing football in fall 2020, the Bears football program recently announced it won't play Big Sky football this spring either. Instead, the team will pursue a spring schedule of scrimmages with non-conference opponents.

"Unfortunately for us we are not going to be playing (this spring)," said McCaffrey. "We are probably going to play a couple of scrimmages against some other teams, which we're attempting to put together."

"The threat of injury in the fall was another concern. Playing a whole season in the spring and then turning around and playing a whole season in the fall where you could play over 20 games in less than 10 months, that's a lot of football," continued McCaffrey.

"We have a lot of players that it's their last season. They're not going to get to play again. I feel for our seniors. Luckily the NCAA is allowing us to bring those guys back and not count them towards our roster numbers. But they still want to play so it's really important they get a season in and if it's not going to happen in the spring we want that to happen in the fall, so between now and then: Get them in shape, get them ready to go and hopefully create a great experience."

"And who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and we'll have fans in the stands which is something that probably wouldn't have happened in the spring." 

Last week, former Valor Christian High School quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, Ed McCaffrey's third son, announced he would transfer from the University of Michigan to Northern Colorado.

"I'm extremely excited Dylan decided to join our team," said Ed McCaffrey.

A highly-touted recruit out of high school, Dylan won three state titles at Valor Christian from 2013 to 2016. After enrolling at Michigan with head coach Jim Harbaugh, Dylan could never get it going with the Wolverines, battling injuries and other quarterbacks for a position on the depth chart, before opting out of the 2020 season.

"He had a lot of opportunities and a lot of choices, a lot of places he could have played," said Ed McCaffrey. "He wanted to come home, wanted to live in Colorado, wanted to play at UNC. And as a coach, I'm extremely thrilled because he makes us a whole lot better. But also as a father it's a really cool experience being able to coach your son."

Dylan will have two years of eligibility at UNC and can play immediately as graduate transfer.

"Six-five, 225-pound quarterback who's played some pretty big games against some pretty big opponents in the FBS and the Big Ten," said Ed. "I think he gives us a wealth of experience and a ton of talent. We also have some weapons for him that were on the team and that we brought in and so I think that's one of the reasons he decided to choose us over some other schools."

Ed's youngest son, Luke, also announced last month he'd be leaving the University of Nebraska and entering the NCAA transfer portal.

The oldest McCaffrey son, Max, is on Ed's staff at UNC. Christian McCaffrey is a star running back for the Carolina Panthers.

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