Muschamp optimistic as SEC presses forward: ‘Thank goodness we’re playing football’
There’s still nearly six weeks to go before South Carolina football can take the field for its season opener against Tennessee. In the age of the coronavirus, that’s enough time for things to change drastically — maybe even change two or three times.
But as the Gamecocks reported for the start of preseason camp on Monday, coach Will Muschamp expressed guarded optimism about playing college football this fall despite the global pandemic.
“Whether we play football or not, the coronavirus is not — it’s not going away,” Muschamp said. “It’s going to be here, and in my personal opinion, and I’m not a doctor, shutting our country down is not the best thing to do, I can assure you of that. So, right now, the medical task force people, the experts, are telling us that they feel it’s safe to play at this time. Could that change? Certainly could change, but at this time they feel like it is safe enough to play.”
The SEC medical task force Muschamp was talking about has recommended protocols for fighting and containing the virus and has been cited by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey as the conference continues to try to play, even after the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed their seasons until at least the spring.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 decisions came just a few days after the SEC had announced two new opponents for each team in the league to complete a 10-game, conference-only slate. The other Power Five leagues plan to try to play in the spring, but Muschamp said any discussions of a spring season haven’t been on his own radar.
And while players and parents from the Big Ten have pushed back against the conference’s decision to cancel the season more than a month in advance, Muschamp praised the SEC’s leadership.
“Commissioner Sankey has been very prudent in his approach to this whole process. He has said all along that the coronavirus will determine the timeline, and he wanted to be as patient as he can be, almost to a point of being very frustrating for us as coaches and for our players, because of the uncertainty out there of when things were going to start to evolve and happen,” Muschamp said. “... We’re at a point right now where we’re moving forward with our season — until some somebody tells me differently, I look forward to kicking off on the 26th of September.”
Muschamp’s optimism came even as, about 200 miles away, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on Monday moved to online-only instruction after reporting more than 130 cases of COVID-19 within the first week of restarting in-person classes.
“It’s certainly a concern, but again, we’ve got to use our best judgment as we continue to move forward and understand to not put ourselves in exposure of the unknowns,” Muschamp said of UNC’s decision. “We’ve stressed that to our players as many times as we can. The majority of the classes that our guys are taking are online.”
The entire Gamecock roster, along with coaches and support staff, were tested for the virus on Monday, with results expected back the same night. At the moment, no players are in quarantine or isolation, Muschamp said.
Of course, even if the season does take place, the in-game atmosphere won’t be the same — athletic director Ray Tanner has said if fans are allowed to attend games at Williams-Brice Stadium, capacity will be capped at 24.6%. When asked how he felt for fans, cheerleaders and bands who might have to miss games as a result, Muschamp offered some perspective.
“I hurt for them as far as not being able to have the normal seat that we have at Williams-Brice Stadium, or when you go on the road in the Southeastern Conference to a place like Neyland Stadium or between the hedges (at Georgia) or in The Swamp (at Florida) or wherever the case may be, to have that experience, because there is something special about that in our league,” Muschamp said.
“But, thank goodness we’re playing football. And thank goodness we’re going to have that opportunity this fall. And so I think that, be mindful for what you have and appreciate what you have, even though it may not be what you totally are used to having in your life.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 6:20 PM.
