Alabama sports director Greg Byrne plans to play for Crimson Tide this fall.
Charlie Potter of 247Sports shared Byrne’s statements in a video call with reporters in which he said there had been conversations within the SEC, but “not a ton”, about moving the season in the spring in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our purpose is to play this fall now,” Byrne said. “We’ve been editing since March and we’ll continue to evolve and if necessary.”
He also noted that Alabama will implement the rules through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
“If you stick to CDC rules from a contract-seeking perspective, I think you have the opportunity to move on and out to play, regardless of the game, in the fall. That’s what we’re doing as a department, and that’s what we’re going to keep doing. If the fall game season is cancelled at any time, we will flagrantly comply with those rules. But I think our student-athletes have made it clear to us that the vast majority of them need a chance to check out playing.”
College football season seemed to fail when Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they would delay at least spring, but SEC, CCA and Big 12 appear to be in a position to play in the fall for now.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban said he thought players were safer within the boundaries of the football program than it was.
“I need to play, but I need to play for smart players, the price they can create for themselves,” Saban said, through ESPN’s Chris Low. “I know you’ll criticize me no matter what you say, I don’t care about player protection. Look, the players are much safer with us than they’re running home. We have a positive ratio of around 2% on our team since July 4. He’s much taller than that in society. We act like those boys can’t have that unless we play football. They can have it anywhere, whether it’s in a bar or just hanging out.”
Byrne echoed that sentiment and spoke of the “umbrella” Alabama gives its players.
He also claimed that Crimson Tide had not had a case of myocarditis and was actively tracking his athletes for central diseases.
This is notable because Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported that the Big Ten is aware of at least 10 players with myocarditis, which may be simply connected to the COVID-19 virus. It is in the resolution not to organize a football season in autumn with so much uncertainty about the long-term effects of the virus.
From now on, the SEC plans to play in the fall.
Alabama is scheduled to start its season on September 26.