SAN MARCOS, Texas -- If you look across the country, many college football programs are pushing back the start of their season and some are even postponing it until the spring. Texas State University is going the other way.
What You Need To Know
- Texas State announced its season opener moving up a week
- Bobcats adjusting to safety protocols mostly off the field
- Coach believes transmission of virus will be higher when all students return
- Football team tested negative in recent round of testing
This week the university announced that its season opener is moving up a week, to August 29, when the team will host Southern Methodist University.
“It was more about flexibility in scheduling and making sure of a dry run in testing protocols before you went into conference,” said Texas State head coach Jake Spavital.
With a game coming in just over three weeks, the Bobcats started practice this week. While many things look normal when the team is out on the field, it’s a very different set-up behind the scenes.
“Everything we’ve done in the past has changed,” said Spavital. “The way we practice, the way we meet, the way we eat, the way we do treatment, the way we do ice baths and the way we do anything in the future is going to change.”
Even with all of the protocols in place, football is still the ultimate contact sport. And with the amount of guys on the team and within the program, it won’t be easy keeping them from getting the virus.
“That’s the hard part right now is that you know one person could knock out a lot of your team,” said Spavital. “I think everybody knows what's at risk and the severity of this. One person could selfishly hurt a lot of other people on your team.”
Spavital says that they had no positive cases after the last round of testing. The big issue looming, though, will happen when other students are brought back to campus.
“It’s never perfect. You’re dealing with 18- to 22-year-old kids,” said Spavital. “You’ve got to educate them on what could happen and that they are masked up and staying socially distant.”
As the season approaches, we’ve started to see players at different programs opt out of playing this season because of COVID-19 concerns. Players who choose to do that will remain on scholarship. Spavital says that one player at Texas State has chosen to opt out.
“You got to make sure these kids are talking it through with their families and the families feel safe and good about where they’re at,” said Spavital. “If they opt out, that’s their choice and their right and we’re here to help them through that process.”
All that to worry about and yes, if they can stay safe, there will be a football game to play at the end of the month.