With COVID-19 now causing shutdowns across the country, the announcement that schools across the country, including the University of Tennessee, will transition to an online only finish is not a surprise to anyone.

It does, however, create some unknowns and questions as we “kick the can” of college athletics further down the road.

One of the biggest questions, ironically, is that of academics.

While the online classrooms give every student, including student athletes, the opportunity to complete the coursework, it does deprive the student athlete of a major factor in their academics — that being academic support.

The hub of the support system at Tennessee is The Thornton Center. It’s one of the first stops on any recruiting tour. It’s a gathering place for athletes all semester long for tutoring and academic assistance. It’s most important time is at the end of the semester, as preparations begin for final exams and semester long work is due.

With most student athletes off campus, that hub is not available.

On Tuesday, Tennessee athletics director Phillip Fulmer did note that those athletes still on campus (students from abroad or those who don't have a safe place to stay) would have access to "academic, nutrition, and mental health services," before adding that "we're encouraging all our student athletes to stay home if they can."

So the question becomes two fold: One, how do coaches and athletic academic support people help student athletes manage the remainder of the semester? Yes, there can be FaceTime and other digital communication, but it’s not hands-on tutoring.

Secondly, what does the NCAA do regarding eligibility for next year? Without the resources of academic support for student-athletes, what is the waiver process for eligibility for the student athletes next semester if they don’t complete their academic work this semester to the standard required?

If a student athlete were declared ineligible, could he sue the NCAA for eligibility because he wasn’t provided with the proper resources to be eligible?

It’s a definitely a new set of questions and unknowns arriving from the forced end of a normal semester of school.

The other academic question surrounds incoming freshmen. Those student athletes who are preparing to arrive this summer or by August (depending on when they are allowed to report) have to graduate from high school and they also have to have a standardized test — test dates that right now aren’t happening and might not be happening for months.

How does the NCAA handle initial eligibility with a student athlete who wasn’t given a chance to become eligible because there were no standardized test opportunities?

Obviously, there will be make up dates for those tests at some point, but the coaches plan is always for their incoming freshmen to be on campus at some point in the summer.

Fulmer addressed these slew of questions Tuesday, believing that ultimately, the "right thing" will be done for the student athletes.

"I would suspect, from the conversations I’ve had and what’ve I’ve heard, the SEC and the NCAA are going to be sensitive to the eligibility of athletes," he said.

"Whether it’s looking at giving them back eligibility or whether they’re trying to get eligible or whether they’re high schooler to come in, I would think, with the ACT and SAT prep courses being disrupted, what does that mean to that young person that needs to get eligible? We work for the student athlete. I think everybody will do all they can to help them be successful as they can. I think we’ll do the right thing."

How realistic that notion of having anything student on campus this summer unclear at this point though.

But if students are on campus this summer, how does the NCAA handle an incoming freshman who’s not met initial eligibility?

That, as well as continuing eligibility, is just a couple of questions stemming from the by product of the current new norm everyone is dealing with.