Each morning Longhorns Wire will share the top stories from around the Big 12. For this edition, CBS, BON, and the FWST provide headlines.
Each morning Longhorns Wire will share the top stories from around the Big 12 Conference. For this edition of the Big 12 morning rush CBS Sports, Burnt Orange Nation, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram provide the headlines.
Kansas football suspends voluntary workouts after spike in positive COVID-19 tests
The coronavirus has struck another college football team, this time in Lawrence, Kansas. 16 student-athletes tested positive for the virus, with 12 of them being football players. Les Miles and the university responded by suspending voluntary workouts and have issued a 14-day quarantine.
“When we welcomed our young men back to campus a couple of weeks ago for voluntary workouts, even with the policies and procedures in place to try and protect them from becoming infected with the virus, events outside of our control has made the decision to pause these workouts necessary,” coach Les Miles said in a statement.
However, the uptick in positive tests has forced the university to halt its preseason schedule. At the end of the 14-day self-quarantine, all athletes and staff will be retested to determine whether activities can resume.
“Our priority remains to keep our student-athletes safe and healthy, especially during this pandemic, and we will follow the recommendations of our medical professionals,” athletic director Jeff Long said in the release. “We will only resume our preparations after the 14-day quarantine is complete and our student-athletes and staff have bene tested for the virus prior to participating in football activities.”
Big 12 Storyline 2020: West Virginia has the potential to be conference’s sleeper team
Burnt Orange Nation has identified the Mountaineers are a team that could possibly play the upset role this season. It was a tough year for West Virginia in year one of Neal Brown, struggling towards an overall 5-7 record and a 3-6 Big 12 record.
With former Oklahoma quarterback Austin Kendall underperforming, Bowling Green transfer Jarrett Doege is expected to take over in 2020.
Doege helped provide a late-season spark for the Mountaineers. They won road games at both Kansas State and TCU with him at quarterback. Considering how well he played to finish the year, Doege is likely to get the starting nod at quarterback to open this season.
Their defense is also cited as the possible reason for a turn around year. A unit that struggled last season is expected to improve in many thanks to returning talent.
It starts with the play up front. With the Stills brothers back, West Virginia’s defense has potential to be one of the Big 12’s best in 2020. Darius and Dante Stills combined for 14 sacks and 26 tackles for a loss last season. Once again, the Mountaineers will be a force to be reckoned with on the defensive line with these two leading the charge.
Will football be played this fall? We ask an epidemiologist advising the Big 12, NFL
The burning question in all of sports right now is the status of football in the fall and if it can be played in a safe manner. Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram asked Christopher Hostler, an epidemiologist at Duke University, that exact question.
How do you feel the Big 12’s return to sports plan has gone for schools after a couple weeks? “Like institutions across the country, things are changing every day due to a variety of local factors for each school, so it’s too early to tell.”
Should schools in a state such as Texas that has surging positive cases shut down workouts? “We don’t tell schools what they must do, but we do advise on different scenarios and courses of actions to help them in their decision making process. Mitigation plans will always need to consider distinct factors, and certainly the trend for local infection rates and the needs of local and regional health systems will need to be factored in when schools are making decisions about moving forward.”
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