KNOXVILLE — Week 0 of the 2020 college football season is scheduled to kickoff Aug. 29.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, uncertainty hovers over the sport if the upcoming season can be played as scheduled, or at all.
Amesh Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, is part of the NCAA coronavirus advisory panel.
Adalja discussed the pandemic and if the upcoming college football season can be played.
“It is going to be a challenge and one that we are going to face throughout the pandemic,” Adalja told Vols Wire. “There are going to be places where there are hot spots of transmissions. That is going to pose a problem for any type of activity because there is going to be community transmission going on. That is going to impact every activity and person.
“Because these cases are occurring among young people who intend to be spared from severe consequences, it makes it even harder from a public health standpoint, too.”
Vols Wire has learned that a topic of discussion throughout college football is postponing the season with February as a possible target date.
Minnesota State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joe Beschorner discussed the topic of college football punting the season to February on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.”
“I have heard people kicking the season to February or in the winter,” Beschorner said. “It’s all fine and good, but you haven’t played outdoors in Minnesota, in February.”
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Adalja discussed that having college football postponed until February could be one modification to the upcoming season. He also mentioned that you could see players wearing face shields as a precaution against COVID-19.
“You might have better control of the outbreak at that time, but we still won’t have a vaccine,” Adalja said of postponing the season until February. “You have to think about all kinds of modifications and that might be one.
“This virus is going to be with us until we have a vaccine, and if we are going to do sports, you have to come up with a way to try and make it feasible. I think pushing it off, you may still have those same problems — I don’t think we have an easy answer to this.”