AUBURN, Alabama. – The effects COVID-19 can have on the 2020 Auburn football season are becoming more and more obvious as the start approaches.
Coach Gus Malzahn said Saturday that the show had reported two new cases of COVID-19 this week, which led to the quarantine of 10 players, five of them starters.
Everyone will be back in time to play on September 26 against Kentucky. The biggest problem, however, is that the game is only in two weeks. Auburn will spend this time perfecting his game plan, and while those players will likely continue to attend Zoom’s Isolation Meetings, they obviously can’t go to the education representatives’ box: the SEC asks for 10 days for anyone to test positive and 14 days for any indication of contact.
“You’re sitting here two weeks after kicking and some of your boys didn’t train,” Malzahn said Saturday after the team’s third preseason scrum. “Obviously, it’s worrying. “
It’s also a reminder of how temporarily things can change. We’ve noticed it over and over again in Auburn’s four-week preseason. The team did not report a positive bachelor check on Sunday before their first practice on August 17. The following week, he had to miss three scheduled workouts after nine positive checks led 16 players to be quarantined. Then, back, he didn’t return any positives in two rounds of controls last week.
And it’s not the positives that are of greatest concern, the fitness and protection of Auburn players remains paramount to the program’s coaches and medical staff. Traces of touch are the biggest threat.
The Tigers have tested only 11 players positive since the start of preseason training, representing only 9% of their list of 122 men, but those 11 positives led to the isolation of 26 players in total. , however, he said that two posts were affected two weeks later, which eventually led to the cancellation of internships.
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Add 4 players who missed the first week of education because they were quarantined as a result of summer tests, and nearly 25% of the list wasted education time due to the pandemic, even though not all of them the virus. is the charge of preventing a complete leak on a computer.
The chances of this going down again would possibly also increase from next week, when Auburn goes from two rounds of testing (Sunday and Wednesday) to three, according to SEC guidelines.
And because of Auburn’s medical protocols (which come with a seven-day readmission era for those inflamed with the virus), any positive control or indication of contact from now on would likely force that player to miss the first game of September 26 against Kentucky, which lasts less than 14 days.
“I think for the maximum component, our boys have done that, but he’s two feet away,” Malzahn said. “You’ll have to be two feet away. Our coaches here in the building, that’s how we work. Like I said, I think in general, our boys have done a very smart job. But when you communicate about Array . . . I think close contacts when you have something positive, that’s the challenge. That’s the challenge with everyone. “
The positive thing, if any, is that leaving those players out, especially beginners, opens up more practice tests for those who attach to them on the intensity board, and not just with the attack and defense of the 3rd team, where Malzahn said things tended to get “a little ugly,” but with teams first and fore.
This can lead to significant contributions from genuine freshmans on the list, especially since this season might not oppose a player’s eligibility (meaning you don’t have to worry about red jerseys).
“When there’s sound around you,” Malzahn said, “you have the ability to show what you can do to succeed. That’s the positive thing. That’s how we see it. I told you a few weeks ago. I think the groups that can adapt and not be distracted or discouraged and all that and just say “The Next Man” are the groups that I think are going to have an advantage. “
It’s the same in the training ranges. Malzahn said before this preseason that Auburn would make efforts to have repositioning coaches in his position in case a staff member were positive. When asked if he had a repositioning, Malzahn said his purpose in this scenario would be to locate a way to continue doing his homework through being remote somewhere in the stadium or via Zoom.
“I know my (Liberty coach) Hugh Freeze trained mendacity last year in a hospital bed,” he said. “That’s how I see it. “
Follow Josh Vitale on Twitter at @JoshVitale.