New on Sports Illustrated:

The Pac-12 took a significant step forward Tuesday in holding a fall football season.

The Pac-12 took a significant step forward Tuesday in holding a fall football season. League executives voted to allow on-campus voluntary workouts starting June 15 for all athletes, sources told Sports Illustrated. The Pac-12 joins the rest of the country in returning to some kind of normality.

School start dates are expected to vary greatly given the different stages of reopening among West Coast states. In fact, California, Oregon and Washington are opening at a slower pace than the rest of the country. They are only opening on a county-by-county basis, with much of those states still under stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile, Arizona is deep into a reopening phase where nail salons, restaurants and even gyms are open throughout the state.

Last week, the NCAA 

lifted its moratorium on on-campus athletic activity, clearing a path for schools to reopen facilities for athletes as early as June 1. At least three conferences, the SEC, Big 12 and now Pac-12, have lifted their own league-wide restrictions that ran through May 31. The SEC last week voted to allow its schools to begin training June 8, while the Big 12 set its date at June 15. Other conferences are leaving decisions on a return up to their individual schools. Return dates vary greatly by school, much of it determined by state-wide government regulations and university standards. Wyoming, for instance, plans to begin welcoming back athletes June 1, while schools like Oklahoma have announced a July 1 return.

Players will return to campuses that look much different. From disinfectant foggers to masked coaches, schools plan to virus-proof their facilities in a variety of ways, detailed in a story last week on SI. The return to June workouts is seen as the first substantial step to an on-time kickoff of college football. In fact, NCAA leaders are already exploring several more steps in the process. They are considering allowing coaching interaction during workouts in early July. During June voluntary workouts, on-field coaching is prohibited.

For mid-to-late July, NCAA officials are exploring two weeks of NFL-style OTAs followed by a mandatory four-week camp in August. Teams will need to complete four weeks of practice before starting their season. Despite the optimism from officials, spikes in virus numbers could derail the movement forward.