Practice time limit rules only on paper

I don't believe any college football program follows the weekly 20-hour limit of "football activities" to the second. I don't believe any program follows the offseason limit of eight hours per week.

Not Michigan or Texas or UNLV or UCLA or New Mexico State or Middle Tennessee State. No one. That they dutifully fill out accountability forms for the school's NCAA compliance officer is about as believable as someone totaling his itemized tax form.

When in doubt, scribble in an extra business dinner or stapler for the office.

To some degree, I believe all football programs go over the mandatory time limits set forth by the sanctimonious architects of often idiotic rules known as the NCAA.

How much over is the issue. A few hours is one thing. An entire day is another.

Michigan football has never been smacked with major NCAA violations, but it might soon land in that shameful neighborhood now that current and former players are saying the Wolverines, under second-year coach Rich Rodriguez, have treated the NCAA-mandated clock like an all-night fraternity bash.

That they would spend nine to 10 hours on Sunday in football activities during the season and two to three times more than the allowed eight hours in the offseason, when 7-on-7 drills allegedly were observed by staff members, which is prohibited by the NCAA.

Michigan went 3-9 last season.

Maybe it should have practiced more.

What the case at Michigan has done is emphasize a truth that college football long ago became a full-time trade for players, with much of their work hours cloaked under the laughable heading of ''voluntary workouts.''

A football coach utters the word voluntary and I wonder if he is auditioning a new stand-up comedy act.

There is nothing voluntary about these workouts and weight training sessions. There is nothing voluntary about them for players who are perpetually fearful of descending the depth chart or not exhibiting to their position coach a maniacal desire to improve.

If they are voluntary, why do coaches know exactly who participated and who didn't? Do you really believe coaches aren't continually ''suggesting'' players attend these workouts?

It has become a cliché nationally for programs to boast attendance at or near 100 percent for offseason and summer workouts. Coaches brag about such commitment as if it were uncommon elsewhere. Everyone has perfect attendance now. A college football player working on his skills is now as much a year-round occurrence as the changing seasons. They are all too afraid of falling behind.

Consider: In an NCAA report released last year, selected Division I-A players were asked how much time they spent on football-related activities per week. Their answer: An average of nearly 45.

The rule says 20 hours per week. It's a ridiculous notion.

''We follow the (time allotted rules),'' UNLV coach Mike Sanford said immediately after I told him I didn't believe his or any other program did. ''We do exactly what we say on our (accountability forms). It's hard to do, no question.

''I think it's a good rule. They are student-athletes. They are going to college. We expect them to get a degree. We expect them to do well enough academically to stay eligible. To me, honestly, it's a good rule but hard to live by. But it's doable.''

Sure it is -- with all those ''voluntary workouts'' thrown in.

How much of a cushion over 20 hours of practice is sensible enough to let athletes still be legitimate students? At what point does a widely accepted perception -- that major-sport athletes don't care if they earn a degree -- become a self-fulfilling reality?

Would it be 25 hours? Thirty?

There is no question a mandatory time limit must be set for football-related activities. Can you imagine how some programs would overwork their players if one didn't exist?

But as with countless other rules stuffed inside the ponderous NCAA manual, there exists a definite shade of gray when talking about time allotments.

It's like that rule about football programs only being allowed nine assistant coaches and two graduate assistants. Many programs from Bowl Championship Series schools employ far more under terms such as ''strength and conditioning assistant'' or ''director of player development.'' The latter, I assume, is the guy who develops interesting ways for players to work those 45 hours per week.

It's a joke, but one that the big boys from the major conferences have enough money in the budget to get away with.

University and Big Ten Conference investigations are under way at Michigan and should ultimately determine if the Wolverines really did drive their players far beyond the time limits or whether the allegations are simply a way for players recruited by the previous staff to hurt Rodriguez.

But know this. While those in Ann Arbor might have flattened the 20-hour rule like a linebacker running over a tailback catching a ball in the flat, there isn't a program nationally that doesn't travel a few minutes (if not hours) past the mandatory time.

And you can bet they all do it voluntarily.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on "The Sports Scribes" on KDWN (720 AM) and www.infernosportsradio.com.