'I'm Just Praying That There Is a Season'

How do Penn State football players feel about the possibility of a 2020 season? Nervous, like the rest of us.
'I'm Just Praying That There Is a Season'
'I'm Just Praying That There Is a Season' /

Penn State's football workouts have reached a rhythm after five weeks. Players lift weights in small groups, run sprints and get pushed by strength coach Dwight Galt. On Friday, the Lions can begin conducting walkthroughs of their new offense for the first time.

But inside Holuba Hall, where the lifting sessions are conducted, their primary question echoes just as yours does outside it.

Will there even be a college football season?

 "I’d be lying to say that I haven’t thought about it," All-American tight end Pat Freiermuth said. "Obviously I've thought about it, but you try to block the noise out and stay away from what people have been saying. You look at social media (that's another reason I deleted it), and you have all these people where it's very positive and you have all these people where it's very negative. So I feel like you have to have that mentality that you wake up every single day that you're going to have a season."

Over the past two months, more than a dozen Penn State players have conducted video interviews through which a core theme has been threaded. Players have their own personal concerns about COVID-19 but long for positive news about the 2020 college football season.

But the longer they're forced to wait, the more difficult the waiting becomes.

"I continuously talk about it every day," safety Trent Gordon said. "'Hey, do you think we're going to have a season?' We always say we don't know because we don't have all the information. You never know what's going to happen with COVID."

So far, Penn State has managed to prevent the novel coronavirus from interrupting voluntary workouts. Since they began returning to campus in early June, student-athletes have returned zero positive tests for the virus.

Penn State said last week that it has conducted more than 200 tests of student-athletes on six teams; 178 were negative with 31 pending results. The success offered insight into how Penn State has conducted its sessions, which players called difficult but effective.

In football, players work out in limited groups, wearing masks or gaiters, and primarily with their roommates. They don't have access to the football building or the locker room. Coaches meet, separated by offense and defense, in the building's auditorium. They have assigned seats and wear masks.

And everyone must complete a daily medical survey before beginning work.

"The voluntary workouts have been really good," safety Jonathan Sutherland said. "We've been getting a lot of weight-room work, a lot of field work and agility and conditioning. As fas as the concerns, here at Penn State our staff is doing a great job keeping us safe, and all the players are really on the same page."

But the bubble has to expand at some point. Penn State is scheduled to begin training camp Aug. 7, and students will return to campus later that month. That will bring outside forces into the bubble that coaches and staff will have more trouble controlling.

The NCAA last week released a series of testing and prevention recommendations that, ultimately, would become moot if the spread of COVID-19 isn't mitigated. Within that document is an acknowledgment that contact sports might be less risky than simply being a college student.

"Without the broader campus policies and practices to guide their behavior when away from athletics, student-athletes may incur more risk through their everyday activities than they might as a participant in a sport with high contact risk," the NCAA said.

Several Penn State players said that they're comfortable making sacrifices to play. However, they also know that those sacrifices might not be enough.

"We can take care of our end, but at the end of the day, when it comes to competing against other people, we can't control what other people do," Sutherland said.

For the players, COVID-19 is a concern. Running back Noah Cain said several family members, including his mother, were diagnosed with the disease. Franklin said that one player, whom he did not identify, has an autoimmune disease that requires a specific medical plan to allow him to return.

Players also have questions about in-person classes, should they resume. Penn State has issued a series of requirements for distancing and mask-wearing whose real-world applications are yet to be seen.

"I'm very concerned about the coronavirus," Freiermuth said. "...  I think you have to be very careful about who you're socializing with and where you're going and make sure you follow the guidelines. But I think if you can do that, you're in a good position. I think that you can't live in fear, in a way. You have to continue about your daily life. But you've got to also follow the guidelines and be safe."

What would a fall look like with no football? Most players didn't want to consider the prospect.

"I don't even want to talk about not having a season, because I don't envision or have any plans of us not having a season," linebacker Jesse Luketa said.

But the possibility is real. And it opens up an entirely new set of considerations:

What happens to the daily structure sports provide for student-athletes?

Who decides not to play if the season is shifted to spring?

What about generating film for NFL scouts to study?

How long do players plan to stay in school to continue playing football?

There are dozens more questions. Knowing that, Gordon summarized the concerns that he and his teammates take to their workouts.

"I think about that a lot," he said. "Nobody wants to be in school for six-plus years. And then, on top of that, we want film for the NFL. I'm trying to make it. Without there being a season, that kind of scares me, especially since I want to get out [to the NFL] so bad.

"And I'm just praying that there is a season. ... It's something that we definitely have in our heads. 'Is there going to be a season?' Because that scares some of us to think that we possibly could not have one."


Published
Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is Editor and Publisher of AllPennState, the site for Penn State news on SI's FanNation Network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs and three Rose Bowls.