When John Carroll University president Michael Johnson announced Sept. 4 his school would continue remote learning for the remainder of the fall semester, it meant the campus was essentially closed.

That also meant Blue Streaks fall and winter sports teams were on the outside looking in, while most of Ohio Athletic Conference teams were continuing with offseason conditioning and other activities.

It will remain that way at JCU until 2021, and for the most notable teams at the University Heights campus — football and men’s basketball — it presents interesting times.

The football team is coming off back-to-back 9-1 regular seasons, and is eyeing a five-game spring season that begins March 12 against Baldwin Wallace.

Coach Rick Finotti had close to 40 sessions planned beginning Sept. 28 until Thanksgiving but that is no longer an option.

“From a competitive standpoint, it’s a punch in the gut,” Finotti recently said. “But we’ll be OK because our kids work so hard.”

There’s no better example of that than senior quarterback and Mentor graduate Jake Floreia, who spent the summer during the novel coronavirus pandemic corralling a group of JCU teammates to train and throw at spots wherever they could find.

Now, with no organized team functions for the rest of 2020, Floriea and others are getting down to serious business. When he and his teammates gather for workouts, there’s an emphasis that goes beyond previous ones.

“Absolutely, things are different now when we get together,” said Floreia, who would have been a senior this fall but plans to play in the fall of 2021 thanks to an NCAA waiver. “With other schools in our conference practicing, we have to take that mentality. It’s basically us taking it upon ourselves to have our own practices.”

The number of players that met at venues such as Wildcat Stadium in Mayfield varies, said Floriea. Summer gatherings usually consisted of himself, teammate and QB Tadas Tatarunas plus wide receivers, tight ends and running backs.

Now, practices includes linebackers, defensive backs, and even offensive linemen.

“We’re having full 7-on-7s,” said Floriea. “We’re even having some of the centers come up to snap to us. It’s so good seeing the guys coming together like this. The mindset we have is, ‘Let’s go find that field and get the work in.’

“I know how much this means to our guys, and we’ll be ready for the spring. We’re doing it on our own, and our guys are bought in. What we’re doing now is an extensions of our summer and the offseason.”

It’s the same situation at JCU for the men’s basketball program, and the rest of its winter sports teams. In Division III, most if not all conferences are scheduled to start their winter sports seasons after Jan. 1. That includes the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The OAC has yet to announce its winter sports plan, but for men’s and and women’s basketball expect a shortened season. That’s what JCU men’s coach Pete Moran is expecting.

In a typical year, Moran’s Blue Streaks begin practice in mid-October but that’s not happening. Without offseason conditioning, it will be go-time in an effort to be ready for the start of the season Jan. 1.

Moran will surely rely heavily on his upperclassmen, which includes seniors Jackson Sartain — who averaged 16.3 points last season— Emil Hess of Berkshire and Luke Hippler. There’s also the notable addition of Muskingum senior transfer Marcus Dempsey, who averaged 30.6 points last season.

The Blue Streaks (19-9 a season ago) would be forced to come together in a hurry.

“There’s a big difference between being in a weight room and conditioning and going out and playing five on five,” said Moran. “That’s my concern. Are they in basketball shape?”

Those are the big questions about JCU fall and winter sports. The answers will soon come, but Moran made a point that in these unprecedented times, there needs to be proper perspective.

“I’ve transferred my mindset into realizing we’re not the only ones in this situation,” he said. “Families are losing jobs, people are struggling to pay rent and pay bills. There are bigger problems right now, and that’s where I’m directing my thoughts right now.”