The Southeastern Conference is reopening its doors to athletes in just over two weeks as the league has voted to allow players back to campus on Monday, June 8.

This is great news for us all as it’s the latest sign that the college football season will be played come the fall.

Following the news, Paul Finebaum made an appearance on “SportsCenter” to express his support for the SEC’s decision.

“This is a significant move in terms of reopening college football,” Finebaum said Friday on ESPN. “I know it’s a small step, but that’s what you had to do because everything had been shut down. It was expected, but it’s still significant in the fact that we’re finally moving forward.

“What’s so remarkable about this is four weeks ago, you would talk to athletic directors and commissioners and privately they were very pessimistic about getting to this point this quickly. That has all changed. It’s a very successful move, a positive move and I think college football fans are getting closer to seeing football at the normal time in September, as opposed to some other bizarre winter sport that has been proposed by some people.”

When asked if the SEC’s decision can be read as a reaction to the ACC’s plans to open, Finebaum views the league’s decision differently.

“I think, for the most part, and this is rare in college sports, all the different leagues – commissioners of the five Power 5 leagues – are moving in concert with one another as opposed to the opposite of that,” Finebaum said.

Finally, in terms of how big important the SEC’s vote was, the SEC Network analyst said the decision was the latest pointing toward college football occurring as scheduled in the fall.

“It may seem like a baby step to some people watching around the country and they are saying, ‘Well, what’s the big deal? You folks are just going back into weight rooms.’ But it is a big deal because without doing this now, it would be very difficult to start the season on time,” Finebaum added. “What I mean by that, most coaches have said 4-6 weeks, more six weeks than others. I also talked to Nick Saban about this the other day, he said we need an OTA, that’s an NFL term, but it’s critical because one thing to remember, none of these schools had spring practice.”

Buckle up fans, SEC football just took a big step toward returning in the fall.