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The global pandemic continues to affect the sports world on all levels making attempts to find normalcy difficult. The college football season remains in severe doubt, with several conferences either postponing their seasons or canceling altogether.
As the Kansas City Chiefs continue to follow new protocols regarding this year’s training camp, plenty of questions regarding college football continue to circulate. The effects on scouting and NFL draft for prospects is another dilemma for those student-athletes who hope to reach the league. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and All-Pro Safety Tyrann Mathieu provided opinions on college football’s dilemma during Friday’s training camp press conferences.
“I think everybody’s situation is going to be a little different,” said Mathieu, ”Obviously, you have to have the right kind of attitude and need the right kind of people around you to make the right decisions at 19, 20, 21 years old. I’m hoping that those guys have people in their corner that can really guide them and give them the right kind of advice, whether that simply is telling the guys the truth. Some guys have enough tape where they don’t have to play another season, whereas some guys need the tape to get looked at or get mentioned in the next draft class. It’s unfortunate circumstances, so I just hope those guys have the right kind of people in their corner so they can make the right decisions.”
Mathieu was dismissed from the LSU football program in 2012 and was still drafted in 2013. He can relate to being unable to solidify draft status on the college football platform, though, under different circumstances. The lack of a college season could interrupt the scouting process forcing NFL teams into an unusual situation.
“It sounds like they’re working everything out right now, and I’m sure there are reasons why. They have a lot of smart people there,” said Reid. ”I’m not sure of all the details of it; I’m not involved with that at all. It will add another challenge I think to our scouting department on evaluating players, but they’ll work it out just like everybody else will and go forward. I have to tell you, I’m kind of more focused on this than that, but I do have a son that’s a strength coach at one of the colleges, so I’m a bit aware of it.”
The sports world continues to wait for a unanimous decision from the college football community. The health and safety of student-athletes are and should be a priority as these young men aren’t paid for their services per collegiate regulations.
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