Test time: Kansas State 'really close' to missing Big 12's participation thresholds vs. Oklahoma

COVID tests give coaches "anxiety every day" but Chris Klieman sounds extra nervous

John E. Hoover | Sep 23, 2020

It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s test day in the Big 12 Conference.

Only, this test is looking for signs of COVID-19.

Pass, and you get to take another test on Friday. Fail and you go to quarantine for 14 days. Get too close to someone who fails and, well, you go to quarantine too.

“It causes us anxiety every day, to be honest with you,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said during his Tuesday press conference. “Even on the Arkansas State game, it was Friday at 5 o’clock when we finally got the go-ahead to play. We were one player at one position from having to cancel that game.

“This week, it’s another position that we’re really close on the threshold.”

K-State is scheduled to kick off with Oklahoma at 11 a.m. Saturday. We’re that close to having the Big 12 Conference opener postponed.

“We’ve just got to keep preaching to the guys: keep their social distance, keep their mask on, keep themselves safe so that we can get through the test on Wednesday and get through the test on Friday,” Klieman said.

“But in the meantime, the guys that are out there, we need to keep rolling. You may be the backup. The backup knows that he’s one day away from being the starter. The third-team guy knows he’s one day away from being the starter. It’s stressful. It’s anxiety. But everybody’s dealing with it.”

Oklahoma certainly is. Of the 20 players listed on the two-deep who didn’t suit up for the Sooners’ season-opener on Sept. 12, 17 were COVID-related.

“It will be tough to predict,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday. “This will be the first stretch of consecutive games. Interested to see how that goes, not just for us, but for the rest of the conference. … We obviously have to continue to handle it better. Understand that a guy makes a mistake or gets popped for contact tracing now, it’s not going to be one game, it’s likely to be multiple games.”

Kansas State defensive back Will Jones said it won’t be easy, but discipline is the key.

“We know it’s going to be difficult,” Jones said, “and we just have to be able to hold ourselves accountable to not go out and not go to parties and keep it within the facility, and go home, and then come back, wear your mask, and be disciplined. We know it’s going to be a challenge and some people may have to play multiple positions or take care of a teammate, but it’s hard and everyone is taking that step and being responsible and wearing a mask and doing the things we need to do to be able to protect the team and help the team move forward.”

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Published Sep 23, 2020

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.