With select college football conferences already starting their seasons, and others gearing up to start in the coming weeks, there is still a considerable amount of uncertainty about how this year’s season will develop due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Notable conferences, such as the Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences, have already taken precautions to protect their players and coaches by postponing their fall seasons.
Additionally, many players on teams who plan to play this fall have already opted out of the fall season, with some players citing personal health reasons and others wanting to prepare themselves for the 2021 NFL draft. Players are doing the right thing by opting out of this year’s college football season.
First, this season will be shortened for a majority of teams. If everything goes according to plan, only the American Athletic and Sun Belt Conferences will play a normal 12 game season. Every other conference that hasn’t postponed their season will play a shortened season against only conference opponents. Also, for many players, a shortened season means a diminished opportunity to impress the NFL scouts before next year’s draft.
Even though many teams’ seasons are shorter than usual, there is no guarantee that the college football season will be completed. Many schools already stopped holding in-person classes due to the spread of COVID-19, but are still participating in thIS college football season.
A survey of about 1,200 athletic trainers conducted by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) reported that 59% of the trainers said athletes were “somewhat” following COVID-19 protocols, and 46% said coaches and staff were “somewhat” following COVID-19 protocols.
This survey should cause concern for players’ personal health. If a team is going to avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 in the locker room, it falls on each individual player and staff member, not just a majority. Each team’s season depends on their willingness to comply with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s safety protocols. Based on the results of this survey, not nearly enough players, coaches or staff members are taking these protocols seriously.
As the season starts, teams could potentially miss multiple games if players and staff need to quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19. In this case, a scheduling nightmare would ensue if a team has to miss games. Missing one or more games would end a team’s season. Because of the extremely physical nature of the game, it would be unsafe to schedule more than one game per week to try and make up for missed games.
Many college football players are making the right decision by opting out of the fall 2020 season. The personal health risks are too great, and, as of right now, the threat of seasons getting shut down due to COVID-19 is still high. Hopefully players and coaches who have already started their seasons will take care of themselves and their peers.
