Riley Says Nine Sooners Tested Positive for COVID-19 Friday

Oklahoma head coach also says LB Caleb Kelly, DB Justin Harrington and DL Marcus Hicks will miss "a significant portion of the season"

Last weekend, Lincoln Riley made the decision to give his players a break from practice.

With the future of the fall season in limbo, the choice seemed to make sense. It wasn't clear at that point whether there would even be football in 2020.

“We knew once the decision was made at the Big 12 level to back the season up, we knew at some point we were going to have to give our guys a break," Riley said. "The uncertainty, certainly in the last week in college football, was a factor in the timing… We felt like it was the right decision at the time.”

But Saturday, Riley and the Sooners are dealing with the negative ramifications of that decision, as several players returned to university facilities carrying the virus.

“We had nine players test positive for COVID," Riley said. “Obviously we’re going to continue to monitor that very closely. … We’re very aggressive about removing anybody that could have had any potential contact. So we removed them and put them in quarantine. Disappointed by the news, obviously. We get that we’re all going to have to continue to do a better job on all accounts.”

Before Friday's round of testing, the Sooners had reported just a single positive case within the football program since July 1. Riley said that less than 25 percent of the roster left Norman during the break — he called the infections "community based" — but also emphasized that the program doesn't have a bubble, and that he and his staff can't exercise total control over the players.

Riley also confirmed that LB Caleb Kelly, DT Marcus Hicks and S Justin Harrington had all suffered significant injuries that will keep them sidelined for quite some time.

“From an injury standpoint, four guys — Caleb Kelly, Cason Grant, Marcus Hicks, and Justin Harrington … those guys will all miss a substantial portion of the season," Riley said.

Despite the injury bug on defense and the COVID-19 spike, Riley remains optimistic as he looks ahead to the 2020 season. The Big 12 announced earlier this week that their teams will play a modified 10-game schedule, and Oklahoma is set to open their slate on Sept. 12 against Missouri State.

“It’s been fun to see this team start to come together," Riley remarked. "We’ve continued to practice en masse, which most college football teams right now are not doing. We continue to screen every player as they come into our facility each and every day.”

Players returned to campus on Friday after being dismissed from team activities on Sunday. Riley said that in addition to the nine players who tested positive for the virus, several other players had been identified as potential carriers through contact tracing. Those individuals have also been quarantined.

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