How Nick Saban, Alabama Handled COVID-19 Protocols During Bye Week: "I Didn't Have the Heart to Tell Them They Couldn't Go Home"
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Monday was a whirlwind of day regarding COVID-19 and its effect on the Southeastern Conference.
LSU had a mini outbreak, and due to contact tracing, Saturday’s game against Alabama teetering on the brink.
Mississippi State and Auburn had their game for this weekend postponed to Dec. 12 due to the Bulldogs' rise in positive cases.
And Texas A&M put a pause on all in-person team activities due to a number of new cases as well. The Aggies game with Tennessee is still on, for now.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban and his team are coming off of a bye weekend and, during his weekly Monday press conference revealed what he and his staff told the players before they left Tuscaloosa for their respective homes, if they chose to do so.
"We test our players every day as you know," Saban said. "And really our guidelines that we had for our players is, look our players have been here for a long time and they’ve been working for a long time, and I really didn’t want them to go anywhere and leave their bubble, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them that they couldn’t go home and see their families."
With players leaving the comfort and safety of the Capstone, emphasis on doing the right things like mask wearing, washing your hands, and social distancing were of the upmost importance.
A COVID-19 outbreak could derail a chance at another national championship for the Crimson Tide.
"So the one place where our players were allowed to go was home," Saban said. "That was it. If you weren’t going home you needed to stay here and be in the bubble. The protocol that we took was we had a meeting with every player who was leaving to reinforce social distancing and things that they needed to do. We gave them a packet of sanitary things that would help them be able to do that, whether it’s a mask, hand sanitizer, whatever it might be. And then we set up video conferences with each family that they were going to go visit. We also wanted them to really understand the importance of being able to control the bubble that the players would be in when they were at home, because players feel comfortable around their family but you also don’t know where the family members are going, coming and going.
"We really tried to educate the players and their families on what needed to be done and tried to give them all the things that we could in terms of apparatus, so that they would have the things that needed to be able to stay safe."
Alabama quarterback Mac Jones noted that he went back home to Jacksonville, Fla. and did his best to social distance at all times and wear a mask around his loved ones.
“It was definitely a little different," Jones said. "Coach Saban was very straightforward with us about how we have to approach it. You don’t know what family members are doing, so you have to have your mask on at all times. I can’t speak for everybody, but I think most just went home.
"I just went home and hung out with my family. We spread out. I didn’t hug anybody. You’re eating at a different table, like you’re eating at the kids’ table. I just sat on the couch and watched football. I didn’t really move that much. Just sat on the couch watching football and trying to relax."
A decision is expected from the Southeastern Conference office on the fate of the matchup between Alabama and LSU later this week.
