As practice nears, TCU football player tests positive for COVID-19
Amid the steady concern of playing sports during a global pandemic, TCU is scheduled to start its 2020 fall football camp later this week without multiple players as at least one more has tested positive for the coronavirus.
A source confirmed that one player has tested positive for COVID-19. Both he and his three roommates, who are teammates on the team, will quarantine. They will not be with the team when fall practice starts later this week.
Football players who live off-campus may have roommates. Players who live on-campus are staying at one residence hall and have been assigned individual rooms with a shared restroom.
TCU’s policy is not to comment on positive COVID-19 cases.
“We fully expect to have student-athletes and coaches go through stretches where they might not be available,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said. “Unfortunately it is going to be our reality for now.”
According to TCU, there are nine current students on campus who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are an additional 12 cases with indirect on-campus impact.
There have been other positive test cases on members of the football team, and coaching staff. Offensive assistant coach Jerry Kill tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this summer.
Although TCU’s 2020 schedule has been affected by two teams canceling, or delaying, their seasons, the Horned Frogs are still trying to play a full schedule like any other year.
No additional games have been finalized but TCU could open the season against UNLV at Las Vegas’ new Allegiant Stadium on Aug. 29. Both TCU and UNLV lost nonconference games to Cal when the Pac-12 opted for a conference-only schedule.
The Horned Frogs must also replace the home opener on Sept. 12 after Prairie View A&M backed out with the SWAC postponing its season earlier this month.
The Big 12 said on Monday its plan is for conference teams to play a full 12-game schedule this season even though other conferences, most notably the Big Ten and Pac-12, are going with a conference-only format. The ACC is waiting to make a decision.
“We continue to gather and evaluate relevant information, and communicate regularly with campus leaders and medical advisers to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and support personnel,” Big 12 senior associate commissioner Bob Burda said Monday.
“We’ve been advised to move forward slowly and constantly re-evaluate, and that’s what we’ll keep doing until we are told it is inadvisable. Everything we’re doing right now is geared towards getting as far down the path as we can to playing football. Although alternative scheduling models are a possibility, a 12-game fall schedule still remains our goal.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 7:14 PM.
