With roughly 40% of FBS college football pulling the plug on the 2020 fall season, Notre Dame and the ACC remain scheduled to start games a month from today.
On the day Notre Dame opens fall training camp, the morning kicked off with Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly and start outside linebacker Daelin Hayes appearing on NBC’s Today Show.
The entire interview between Craig Melvin and both Kelly and Hayes can be seen in full below.
The biggest quotes from both were Kelly strongly sharing that “we believe we can play” as he detailed how thorough Notre Dame has been in using precaution to try and keep COVID-19 as far away from campus as possible.
Hayes shares his belief that essentially, if there is added risk in anything we do anymore, why not at least do what what we enjoy while being exposed to those risks, especially if players are under constant supervision and given weekly tests, like he says.
Full video of interview:
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I get both sides of the argument as to whether or not there should be games played and practices held.
If someone with COVID-19 plays football against a bunch of healthy young men then it’s inevitable that the between the blood, sweat, spit and whatever else gets passed along, that the virus will spread.
But if the players, coaches and staff have followed through with a plan and things have gone incredibly successful like they have, I have trouble with the thought that they don’t deserve at least a chance to play,until they prove they don’t.
I know we’re talking about a lot of 18-22 year old student-athletes and the mind of someone that age doesn’t always make the best of decisions. So far protocols appear to have been followed with great success.
It’s easy to understand why the players and coaches believe they can pull this off, even while acknowledging the difficulty of the situation. Obviously things can change in a moments notice with this like they’ve been doing nationwide for months, but until that time comes I fully see why the players and coaches so badly at least want a chance.