What Alabama Football is Doing to Reduce COVID Risks

With COVID cases on the rise and cancellations across sports, Nick Saban said Alabama is taking extra precautions heading into the holiday season and CFP.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dozens of NFL, NBA, NHL and collegiate sporting events have been cancelled and postponed over the last week because of a surge in COVID cases. 

College football was relatively unaffected by COVID all regular season long, but with the College Football Playoff less than two weeks away, Alabama football is trying to mitigate risks according to head coach Nick Saban. 

"We're also being very conscious with our players about taking care of themselves, social distancing, all those types of things so that we can kind of manage our way through some of the flu that's going around, not just COVID, but stomach viruses and things like that," Saban said. "But so far, the players have done done a pretty good job of doing that.”

Saban has always been a proponent of the players getting vaccinated and said he believes over 90% of the team has gotten their booster shots. He also said that the team has gone back into protocols similar to last year like wearing masks and social distancing in meetings and hand washing. 

The players will be off for three days and are allowed to go home the 23rd-25th before leaving for Dallas on Dec. 26 for the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Cincinnati on Dec. 31. 

The Alabama coach said he is always concerned when there are external issues, but they let the players go home last year for the break and are going to let them go home again this year. They educate the families and send home care packages with everything they need to stay safe.

Overall, Saban is pleased with the way his team is handling things as they continue to prepare for the Bearcats and try to stay healthy. 

"They’ve really kind of bought into trying to do everything they can to stay safe," Saban said. "But you know, there's no guarantees. So we want to use every protocol we can to help them stay safe.”

This story will be updated with video.