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About a month ago, when the Big Ten announced that they will be coming back to play football this fall, the conference outlined a long list of rules and regulations that had to be followed in order to play this season.
One of the major rules that the Big Ten put into place was that if a player tests positive for COVID-19, then that player must sit out for 21 days and receive approval from a cardiologist as well.
During Monday’s video press conference with Rutgers Football head coach Greg Schiano, TKR asked him for his thoughts about the new rule and how it effects his team.
“It’s definitely a concern,” Schiano said in his Monday presser. “If you do the math, people say you only miss three weeks, but you probably missed four weeks based on what day you tested positive falls on. You don’t just show up to the game and play, it takes preparation. So in a eight plus one schedule, if you get it (COVID-19) then you are probably missing half the season. Again and I’ve said this to the team literally everyday, our number one opponent is the virus. We have to stay healthy just so we can have an opportunity to go play at full force and see if we are better than who we are playing. As you know it is an ongoing challenge to all of us.”
Coach Schiano went on to talk about some of the adjustments that his team has had to make during these crazy times, including how his team is constantly helping out one another.
“I think the guys have done a good job. It's definitely an adjustment,” said Schiano. “And it takes all of us holding each other accountable. It's easy to forget to put your mask on, forget to do things when you're busy and you're thinking about other things. But I think the guys have gotten into a good routine of what we do. And also they feel comfortable just helping each other out correcting each other, including players and coaches. That's going to be key, because it only takes one, as we've seen, and then it can spread so we really, we really really have to stay on top of it be diligent and the reality is, even if you do that, you can you can still get bit so it's definitely a big challenge.”
There has been some concern among college football fans across the country as we recently saw the NFL postpone their first game of the season due to positive COVID-19 cases.
Despite the professionals postponing, Schiano is confident in his program’s testing procedures for the season and is excited to play later this month.
“I’m confident in our testing and what we are doing testing every day is the best way to protect,” Schiano stated. “We know when we start our day here as a team, everyone that is with us is clean. From the very beginning and in my mind, I thought this was the only way we can do this and be safe and thank goodness this fast response test developed. Certainly as you mention, no one is immune, it hit the NFL, it hit the president of the United States. We talk about it every day, it’s that big of a thing, we talk about the things we need to do and we learned so much about our time together in dealing with the virus. We all communicate together as a team. And you still see some things like, “hey c’mon get your mask up”, it’s not like anyone is trying to do that, but sometimes you forget. Right now we are just preparing to open up on the 24th and we are excited about that.”
Stay tuned for more from head coach Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights as they continue to prepare for their season opener against the Michigan State Spartans on October 24th.
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