Patrick Surtain: "I'm Very Comfortable on Campus"

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama junior defensive back Patrick Surtain II stated that he is comfortable on campus despite the issues regarding the coronavirus pandemic that have been swirling around the school since Friday.

Surtain made his remarks in a press conference via Zoom on Saturday morning.

"I'm very comfortable on campus," Surtain said. "Most of my classes are online, so I feel comfortable. I'm very comfortable with the protocols Alabama has provided us. I feel like we have our own personal bubble where we have our own bubble where we don't try to get involved with other stuff from around campus and try to stay involved in our own sanctuary."

After entering the semester with less than 1 percent of over 30,000 students testing positive for COVID-19, the university revealed that of students that were showing symptoms, 29 percent of those tested positive on Friday.

The number that correlates with the 29 percent is currently not known, as the number of students tested on Friday that showed symptoms has not been released.

Surtain's sentiments echo those of both redshirt-junior quarterback Mac Jones and senior linebacker Dylan Moses, who both stated that they also feel safe on campus despite the current negative outlook on campus.

“We feel safe here," Jones said when talking to the media about the #WeWantToPlay movement. "We feel comfortable and obviously there’s a lot of unknowns but we just wanted to get our voice out there and obviously we had a lot of guys that could have left last year but they came back so we want to play for those guys, we want to play for the younger teammates, we want to play for the whole organization and the state of Alabama so for me, just getting that out there and Najee [Harris] obviously doing that and a bunch other teammates of ours did that as well so I think that just voicing your opinion and letting people know that we want to play and that we feel safe.”

With the ongoing pandemic, college football players from all over the country have begun to opt out of the 2020 season now that their eligibility will be maintained and their scholarships withheld thanks to legislation passed by the NCAA.

In the SEC, all 14 member institutions have double-down on the effort, saying that any player that opts out for the 2020 season will still maintain their athletic scholarship.

For Surtain, opting out was never in the cards.

“I wasn’t considering it very heavily," Surtain said. "I wanted to be out there with my teammates and play this year because we have a lot to prove this season. I feel it’s best for me to play this year. Get out some extra film and get another opportunity to play with the guys.”

While the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are all slated to play football — albeit in abridged schedules — the Big Ten and PAC 12 conferences have both decided not to host football games in 2020.

The decision by the two conferences has led to massive pushback from the players, including Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. After stating his disappointment in the Big Ten's decision to not have a 2020 football season, Fields took to creating a petition titled #WeWantToPlay on the website moveon.org. As of the writing of this story, the petition now has over 300,000 signatures.

While Surtain is disappointed to see the two conferences drop out, he is pleased that the SEC has continued to press forward for a 2020 football season.

“I feel good about it," Surtain said. "I feel comfortable that I’m pretty safe with the SEC being ready to play. It’s not for me to say about other conferences. But I feel like we as a team are ready to play, so I’m excited about it.”