EAST LANSING - Three things we learned during MSU’s teleconference on Thursday, two questions and one prediction:
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. MSU football players will begin returning to campus on June 15.
We’ve been tipping off SpartanMag members for several days that June 15 was the target date for the outset of players’ return to town as the COVID-19 pandemic curve continues to flatten. Now, it’s official.
On Thursday, Michigan State athletic director Bill Beekman laid out the formal plans. He said players will best tested when they arrive on June 15, and then retested on June 22 after self-isolating for one week. Those that are cleared twice will be able to begin voluntary summer workouts.
MSU’s strength and conditioning staff will be assigned to small groups of players during June workouts as the Spartans resume formal preparations for the 2020 season.
Once they arrive, measures will be continuously taken to monitor and protect their health.
“One of the things we are implementing and being pretty strict on is limiting groups that train together,” said Jeff Kovan, MSU’s Director of Sports Medicine and Performance. “If we do have an athlete or a strength coach or other staff person who tests positive, the intent is if we keep the number of athletes that are together in a small set and their strength coach works with just that group, and somebody in that group is positive, then we can isolate that individual group as opposed to the whole team. So we are going to try to focus it around roommates and people that spend time together in that nature to kind of limit the exposure beyond that.”
What if players aren’t comfortable returning at this time?
“Before athletes come back, we will have meetings with both the student-athletes and their parents and we will be very clear that if anyone has concerns about health and safety and they want to not practice as a result, then we’ll honor that,” Beekman said.
Beekman said those wishes will be honored into the football season.
“We’re not forcing anyone to come,” Beekman said. “They are voluntary practices, so they don’t need to come anyway. But as we get into the season and if folks want - for health or safety reasons - to be sitting out, we’ll honor and respect that.”
2. Beekman is cautiously optimistic that the season will take place as scheduled.
“It is hard to know what’s going to happen,” he said. “If we have the ability to do things in their normal course, we’ll do them. And we’ll do them until we can’t do them.
“As of today, we’re planning to start on Sept. 5 against Northwestern and we’re planning toward that end until we have to deviate from that plan. With that said, we have spent a lot of time thinking about the scenarios that could occur. But our hope is to play the schedule as it’s been laid out.