Syracuse coach Dino Babers faced three lost workouts while trying to prepare Orange for a football season a pandemic.
That’s good.
“They treated him well. We freeze education until we clean it,” Babers said. “I feel that the environment here and the security measures we are looking for for our players are good. I think we’re in the right format. He just hopes everything will continue.”
Athletic director John Wildhack said the team would check players 3 times a week during the season. The announcement came a week ago after players withdrew from two educational sessions to discuss verification protocols.
“We know what we’re doing on our side,” said Chris Elmore, the senior defensive/closed wing coach. “Having no concept of what other groups are doing on their side, it has involved many boys. The boys are afraid to move somewhere else, their testing protocols may not be the same as ours.”
Students arrived on campus this week and it didn’t take long for a challenge to emerge. A giant organization of freshmen, some without masks, accumulated Wednesday night on campus and did not distance itself from the community, prompting a strong rebuke from the administration.
“I need you to perceive immediately and very clearly that we have a solution to achieve this,” J. Michael Haynie, vice-chancellor of strategic projects and innovation, wrote in an email to students. “The world is watching and expecting you to fail. Show them they’re wrong. To be better. Being adults. Think of others other than you.”
On Thursday night he announced that 23 fellows had been temporarily suspended.
Redshirt’s junior defensive back, Ifeatu Melifonwu, said he saw a video of the rally. He shrugged his shoulders and took it easy.
“It was inevitable,” Melifonwu said Thursday in a Zoom call with reporters. “When you have an organization of other people returning to campus, it’s clear that there will be other people who don’t follow the rules. I didn’t expect it to happen so soon, however, it is expected to happen faster or later. “
The afternoon hours have been a major fear for Babers since players returned to campus in June.
“That will be the real key, ” said Babers. “What they (the players) do at night reflects what will happen to them during the day. I would love to be with them … but that’s not the American style. In fact, they’re all going to be smart during the day, but what are they going to do at night? That’ll decide whether we play or not.
“Students have already been sent home because they have damaged their 40 years. It’s not the best position to joke about it.”
Some players have done many of their duties to assess the dangers of the game at this dubious time. Redshirt’s senior offensive lineman, Airon Servais, said he had investigated the myocarditis, inflammation and central muscle damage that are an imaginable aspect effect of COVID-19 and were taken into account in Big Ten and Pac-12’s decisions to postpone their football seasons.
Servais said he spoke to experts on the phone, his mother listened and asked cunning questions he had never imagined, which eased his concerns.
“It’s something none of us are used to. As players, we just have to make sure we’re as protected as possible,” Servais said, adding that he understood that the ACC would institute tests 3 times a week during the season. I feel very comfortable. I’m very satisfied with that.
“I love being here at Syracuse and I need to be on campus, take my categories and do what I have to do not only to pursue my football career, but also my educational career.
The Oranges are scheduled to open the 2020 season on September 12 in North Carolina, which has just switched to online education due to the accumulation of COVID-19 cases.
It’s more than three weeks away. Babers is cautiously optimistic.
“In fact, at the beginning of the season, all the Array … they will see transparency and be really happy with the CCA and everyone who plays the CCA, that other people will be confident enough to enter. This game and play,” he said.
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