Football Cleared To Return to Practice on Monday
The NC State football team has been cleared to return to the practice field effective Monday, according to a statement issued by athletic director Boo Corrigan.
The Wolfpack has been out of action since Monday, when Corrigan announced a temporary pause in athletic activities because of a COVID-19 outbreak among within the program..
Twelve of those teams were cleared to resume activities on Friday. With the return of football, all of the school's programs are now back in action.
A further update on @PackAthletics resumption from our announcement yesterday ... The @PackFootball program has been cleared to resume team activities on Monday. All remaining programs have now been cleared to resume. https://t.co/HvwZoNstTu
— Boo Corrigan (@BooCorrigan) August 29, 2020
State suspended athletic activities, including football practice, on Monday after reporting 22 new positives among the latest group of 693 COVID-19 tests taken within its programs.
Although it has not been speficied which teams were involved or whether the positive tests were among players, coaches or support personnel, speculation that the football program was affected more than the Wolfpack's other teams grew on Friday when it was not among the 12 programs cleared to resume practice.
ACC protocols require that those testing positive for COVID-19, along with those that have come into contact with them, must be quarantined for 10-14 days.
Saturday's announcement is an important one, since the Wolfpack's season opening game at Virginia Tech, originally scheduled for Sept. 12, has already been moved to Sept. 26.
By returning to practice on Monday, coach Dave Doeren's team will have three weeks to make up for lost time and prepare for its new 2020 opener on Saturday, Sept. 19 against Wake Forest at Carter-Finley Stadium.
"The ACC created a league schedule with flexibility to adjust games if needed,” Doeren said when the date change was announced Wednesday. “There are going to be times teams must adjust based on what is best for the health and safety of the players and staffs involved. This move provides our team and staff the time needed to prepare and reacclimate after pausing our practices.”
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