My sense is that the CWA doesn't really understand what male practice players actually do in practice. But I'm no expert myself, and I'm sure that different teams use practice players differently. So I'm trying to ask around and figure it out.

Notre Dame SID Chris Masters says that Coach McGraw uses men primarily as a scout team. I asked if it's true that backups sit on the sidelines all practice while the starters play the guys. His response:

Oh no, the reserves constantly rotate in every few minutes ... the number of reps per player are pretty equal, with a couple of extra turns for the starters.