The developments in college football are coming at warp speed. In the 72 hours since the SEC announced new opponents for its revised 2020 football schedule last Friday …
- The MAC has postponed all fall sports;
- The Big Ten presidents held an emergency meeting Saturday and halted “progress toward contact” in practices;
- AAC and Pac-12 players issued demands for “hazard pay” and revenue sharing.
By Monday, the downward trend morphed into what is being called the “We Want to Play” movement. Frontline college football players from across the country — including Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields — are using their social-media channels to express their desire to play football this fall. The hashtag #WeWantToPlay was trending on Twitter on Monday morning and being used not only by players, but also by Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yuracheck and coach Sam Pittman and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
Georgia players Jake Camarda, Ryland Goede and Quay Walker joined the movement Monday.
It could be too little too late.
SEC athletic leadership is conducting a digital conference call with Commissioner Greg Sankey on Monday afternoon. Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity will participate on that call, but declined to speculate about what might be discussed.
“We’ll learn more about everything then,” McGarity said Monday.
But McGarity emphasized that SEC remains confident it can conduct football amid the pandemic. “We all know we can manage it,” he said.
Last week, the SEC introduced its medical protocols for the football season, which include minimal testing standards and social distancing and masked players on sidelines. UGA sports medicine director Ron Courson followed Friday with the disclosure that the Bulldogs would exceed those protocols with three-times-a-week regular coronavirus testing during the season and on-the-spot testing when required.
Courson said UGA hasn’t had any COVID-19 hospitalizations since a video staffer was admitted in March and discharged in April.
Georgia linebacker and defensive captain Monty Rice expressed frustration this weekend about the contradictory feedback coming from college football’s leadership.
“Let’s play safely, but those ‘in charge’ quit with the back and forth,” Rice wrote on Twitter.
Georgia football players have been on campus since June 8 for voluntary workouts and were conducting team workouts from July 15 until last week when they broke for the end of summer semester. Preseason camp openings were delayed until Aug. 17 after the SEC voted to push season openers back to Sept. 26 and play a 10-game, conference-only schedule.
At the heart of college football’s backtracking is renewed discussion of medical information that cites “the growing evidence of myocarditis,” or permanent heart defects, created by COVID-19 infections, according to Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. That has heightened liability concerns for colleges and universities.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart and it has been found in some COVID-19 patients. There is concern it could be a long-term complication of contracting the virus even in young, healthy people, a group that has usually avoided severe cardiovascular symptoms.
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