Dealing with Coronavirus, Other Issues, Already Causing Separation in SEC

While the number of confirmed coronavirus cases have been on a steady decline in Tuscaloosa, it’s been a different story on campus. The university had another 872 cases last week (Aug. 28-Sept. 3), bringing its total to 2,047 since classes began on Aug. 19.

While there’s been a decline in daily averages, the Labor Day weekend numbers will go a long way in determining the school’s approach for the start of the season and October.

After missing some players last week, the football appears to be cruising along pretty well there have been no major injuries reported, and no one has officially opted out. The team will grind out this week and hold its second fall scrimmage on Saturday.

"Probably more than ever the depth of your team, the experience of your team, is critical, because we may have more issues just from a personnel standpoint just by the nature of where we are than maybe we’ve had in the past, even though all of our efforts are to keep our players safe," Nick Saban said.

"But you know this all comes down to everybody’s personal discipline to sort of manage their bubble. We don’t have a lot of issues when the players are here. They all wear masks. We practice social distancing. They stay separated in meetings. We keep them arm’s length apart on the field as much as possible. It’s OK when you leave here, what kind of decisions do you make in your own personal bubble? Because that probably is the biggest challenge for us, and that comes to everybody’s personal discipline to make the kind of choices and decisions that they won’t have issues."

Here's a look at how the other SEC teams are faring with another two weeks until the regular season starts.

Arkansas: The Razorbacks have already had two scrimmages, with the offense and defense both looking better in one and not-so-good in the other. Consistency and turnovers are problems, although that's not unusual for a team finding its way with a new coach. "A lot of times, just like in life, people pat you on the back and you get complacent," Sam Pittman said via WholeHogSports.com. "I'm not saying we did that on offense, but certainly we weren't the same offense that we were a week ago. Nor was the defense the same a week ago. Obviously anytime you improve, you have to feel good about one side. But is there concern about us holding on to the ball? Absolutely." The key moving forward? Building confidence.

Auburn: Auburn hopes it's back on track after canceling two football practices and a scrimmage during the second week of training camp when 16 players were sidelined due to COVID-19 (nine players who have tested positive and seven considered high risk. Auburn has had no new positive cases from its two most recent rounds of testing, per Gus Malzahn. ... On Tuesday, the university reported 598 new cases from Aug. 31 - Sept. 6.

Florida: The Gators haven't had any opt outs, nor has the university seen a positive COVID-19 test for the football team since early July. “The fact that we haven’t had a positive test since early July, I think there’s a growing comfort with what we’re doing," Dan Mullen said per AllGators.com. "Obviously, we’re getting into a new phase, which is going to be kind of gameday phase and we’ll see how that goes. I hope everybody feels real comfortable with all the safety precautions that we’ve put in place and whatever the SEC puts in place, that we have that comfort level with coaches and players to continue on the path we’re on."

Georgia: The Bulldogs lost Jamie Newman last week after he decided to opt-out, and even though Georgia still has a lot of talent in the quarterback room including USC transfer JT Daniels, there are serious questions about the passing game. Wide receiver was already a question mark, which led to Kirby Smart adding five players in the latest recruiting class. ... Keep your eye on the coaches as well. With Jay Hopson stepping down at Southern Miss, two Georgia coaches being mentioned as possible replacements include offensive coordinator Todd Monken, and former Ole Miss coach Matt Luke.

Kentucky: Three weeks into the fall semester the school reported a spike in confirmed coronavirus cases with 723 from Aug. 3-Sept. 4. Of them, 288 had recovered, and 485 cases were still active. The entire student body was tested upon arrival, but its since been focussed on those in the Greek system. ... According to Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated, Kentucky is planning to allow 20 percent general seating capacity at football games, but 50 percent in suites.

LSU: There is never a shortage of LSU news as the Tigers lost two of their best players in the span of a 48 hour period. With Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Shelvin now off the roster, the outlook of the 2020 season looks much different for the purple and gold. One of the big headlines to come out of the week was the invention of a new cooling technology for players’ helmets. This new gadget was created in an attempt to make the players more comfortable when wearing the COVID-19 helmets with a face mask. ... A total of 14 committed and uncommitted prospects from the 2021 class visited the campus this past weekend to check out Baton Rouge. The visit proved to be vital for top targets Korey Foreman, Maason Smith and Tristan Leigh to name a few. —Glen West, LSU Country

Missouri: The Tigers have had few coronavirus cases on the football team so far. Per the Kansas City Star, new coach Eliah Drinkwitz said on Friday the Tigers had no new positive cases during the most recent round of testing, and are close to having everyone available, "Knock on wood." ... The coach said the defense led the way during the first fall scrimmage, especially linebacker Devin Nicholson and defensive lineman Markell Utsey. “I couldn’t beg for a pass-interference call and we pay the officials for scrimmages,” Drinkwitz said. “So (the cornerbacks) must be doing it right.”

Ole Miss: The team's returning sack leader, Sam Williams, is back with the team after sexual-assault charges against him dropped. The junior-college transfer last year led Ole Miss with six sacks, five quarterback hurries and 9.5 tackles for loss. ... Lane Kiffin called Alabama "Rehab University" while making an appearance on Pat MacAfee's Youtube show. He was talking about former head coaches who have revitalized their careers with a stint in Tuscaloosa. “I’ve given up more (play-calling)," he said per The Grove. "You really have to if you’re going to do everything. I think when you do that, you connect with your players on the other side more, but you also manage the game better. ... When I was calling, as the head coach, all the plays, I’m over there making adjustments while the defense is out on the field. I don’t even see a penalty that happens or see something I can help them with. I think you do a lot better job this way."

Mississippi State: MSU head coach Mike Leach hasn’t yet named his starter at quarterback, but it has long been assumed graduate transfer from Stanford, K.J. Costello, will be QB-1 for the Bulldogs and Leach has now said numerous times that Costello is ahead. From the outside looking in, many might assume that would make sophomore Garrett Shrader – who started four games for State a season ago – the lead candidate to be Costello’s backup. It doesn’t appear that’s the case. True freshman Will Rogers has come in and is apparently not playing anything like a true freshman. After the Bulldogs scrimmaged for the first time last Saturday, Leach said Costello and Rogers were the ones who shined at quarterback. "I thought K.J. had a really good day," Leach said. "I thought Will did an admirable job. A lot of times a freshman goes out there, first scrimmage, and they'll flinch a little, but he came out of it fast and I thought he did some good things. The others I thought were competitive. They can line up and play to a point. But I thought (Costello and Rogers) had the best scrimmage.” It wasn’t the first time Leach has praised Rogers either. And Rogers has garnered vocal admiration from his teammates as well. It’s not to say Shrader couldn’t ultimately end up being the primary backup. But all indications are Rogers has passed Shrader for at least the time being. – Joel Coleman, Cowbell Corner

South Carolina: Gamecock Digest reported Tuesday that a walk-on player was allegedly assaulted by 13 of his teammates last week and the incident is currently under investigation. Travis Hall took to Facebook on Monday to say that his son, freshman walk-on Kamarah Reynolds-Hall, was assaulted by 13 of his Gamecock teammates. Hall named a number of players in his Facebook post. The school has declined to comment so far.

Tennessee: The Volunteers decided to practice instead of hole a scrimmage on Saturday due to missing 44 players, and being doing to just 30 on offense. Jeremy Pruitt said "seven or eight" players had tested positive for the coronavirus. "All of those guys are not COVID related. Some of those guys, whether it's soft tissue injury or [other injuries], you know Austin Pope has got his back [injury]. We've done surgery on Tamarion McDonald. Len'Neth Whitehead is a guy that still is recovering from his surgery, so I don't know the exact number as far as COVID related, but I think it's close to 27 or 28 when you talk about quarantine people also."

Texas A&M: Coach Jimbo Fisher says the Aggies have been nearly coronavirus free for three weeks and recently proclaimed "We're ready to play." He added on College Sports on SiriusXM: "People forget, the first year, we were second in the league. We were second in the West two years ago. We finished second, so we did well." The Aggies, who have 17 returning starters, open against Vanderbilt, and then have a showdown at Alabama on Oct. 3, which many believe could decide the SEC West.

Vanderbilt: The football team suffered another slight setback last week with the announcement that the team had another group of players test positive for the COVID-19 virus. The university does not release numbers on cases either on campus or with the team, though speculation is that there were less than ten positive tests this time around. Still, it is the second such positive testing, though this one did not derail practice like the last which forced a five-day stoppage of all team-related activities. ... As for on the field, head coach Derek Mason seems encouraged by the work and progress his team seems to be showing. Obviously coaches are known for their uncanny ability to say a lot but give little information. Mason is certainly one of those coaches, but his facial expression and demeanor during his most recent Zoom call say he is excited. It all depends of course on how things translate to a real game. Mason and his team still have a lot of issues to fix, position battles-including quarterback- to decide, and improvement to make before they head to Texas to open the season against A&M. – Greg Arias, Commodore Country