While news spreads across the country of football conferences for colleges seeking to cancel the 2020 season, and reported Monday morning surface that the Big 10 has canceled the fall football season, the Southeastern Conference appears set to move forward with the plans in place.
The belief in continuity comes from a collaboration of efforts and planning between school officials, conference administrators, physicians and more, which the SEC feels is the most appropriate approach to how a game week and game day should serve when a season is being played.
On Monday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey took to Twitter to share his two cents, as all eyes remain on the college football world over what move the league will make.
“Best advice I have received since COVID-19: ‘Be patient. Take time when making decisions. This is all new and you will get better information every day, ” Sankey wrote in his tweet. “SEC has been aware of every step since March… slowing down to practice… delayed 1st match to show respect for early fall semester… (developed) test protocols… We know that concerns remain. We’ve never had a (football) season in a COVID-19 environment. Can we play? I do not know. We have not stopped trying. We support, educate and care for student-athletes every day, and will continue to do so… every day. ”
The moves “#WeAreUnited” and “#WeWantToPlay”, started by fellow football fans like Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, have been trending on social media outlets like Twitter.
The goal: to vote the opinion of players who want to play football this fall.
The group, which consists of student athletes from the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 12, shared a list of requirements that would come with playing in the COVID-19 era.
The first was to establish “universally mandated health and safety procedures and protocols” throughout the NCAA.
This past week, the Southeastern Conference unveiled the initial protocols to protect student-athletes from the spread of COVID-19. This included full transparency about the key obstacles that had to be overcome, which meant testing student-athletes multiple times a week, requiring all coaches, staff and non-competitive staff to wear face masks on the sidelines. , and more.
“Our Medical Task Force produces an effective testing and monitoring strategy that complements the vigilant day-to-day efforts of our campuses to establish and maintain healthy environments in which our student-athletes can train and compete,” he said. said SEC Commissioner SEC Sankey.
“Our health experts have guided us through every phase of preparation on the safe return of activity and, together with the medical staff embedded in our athletic programs, we will continue to monitor developments to control the virus and develop our plan. to meet the health needs of our student-athletes. “
Another request from players was for student-athletes to have the option to take the season off without a negative kickback from the program, something we have already seen both draft-qualifying players and non-draft-qualifying players benefit from. The group also called for guaranteed NCAA eligibility if a player chooses to sit out the 2020 season, something that is likely to happen once the dust settles and decisions are made about the status of football in the fall.
The NCAAs already saw a rush over moving to conference-only schedules, as well as plus-one with a non-conference game in some cases.
But the SEC has taken it a step further. The conference pushed the season’s start date back to Sept. 26, and also revealed the 10-game lay for each of the conference’s 14 teams. With talks about postponing before cancellation, the SEC has already taken that step, even bouncing back the annual SEC championship in December.
Amid reports that Power 5 conferences are drawing to a close this season, Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban spoke with ESPN on Monday to counter the idea that players are more at risk of contracting COVID-19 when college football is played this fall.
“I want to play, but I want to play for the sake of the players, the value they can create for themselves,” Saban told ESPNs Chris Low. ‘I know I’m getting criticized, despite what I say, that I do not care about player safety. See, players are a lot safer with us than running home. We have had about a two percent positive ratio on our team since the fourth of July. It is much higher than that in society. We act like these guys can not get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they are in a bar or just hanging out.
“We also test anyone who has symptoms and has an open test site where they can go and be tested as many times as they want or any time they feel like they should,” Saban said. “But our boys will not catch (the virus) on the football field. They will catch it on campus. The argument would then probably be, ‘We should not have a school.’ That is the argument. Why is it, ‘We should not have to play football?’ Why has that become the argument? ‘
Arkansas Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek took to Twitter to express his support for his own and players around the country.
“On behalf of it (Arkansas football) team, (that includes my son) and each of (the Arkansas) student-athletes I represent, serve, support, nurture, fight for and love. #WeWantToPlay, ” Yurachek tweeted.
LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward has continued to hold out hope for a 2020 season, and he stood behind the approach of both LSU and the SEC over the decisions made so far in hopes of having football this fall.
“Our top priority remains the safety and well-being of our student-athletes,” he said in a school release on Friday. “We, as SEC member organizations, will continue to engage in informed and informed conversations about planning for the safety of student-athletes, coaches, and staff. We will continue to follow the guidance of medical professionals in our decision-making, including the SEC Return. to Task Force for Activity and Medical Guidance. Together, and with the direction of public health officials, we are focused on a safe return to competition. “
