Six Cal Starters Unavailable for Oregon State Game
Cal will be without seven players, six of whom are starters, for today's game at Oregon State, Cal reported a few minutes before the game.
Tailback Christopher Brown Jr., tight end Collin Moore, offensive linemen Jake Curhan, Valentino Daltoso and Will Craig and outside linebacker Braxten Croteau are the starters unavailable for Saturday's game. Nose guard Stanley McKenzie is also out.
Most of these players missed the game for COVID-19-related reasons, but Brown did not play because of an unspecified injury.
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox reportedly expects Brandon Mello, Brayden Rohme, Ben Coleman, Matt Cindric and others to help take the place of the absent offensive linemen during Saturday's game.
Presumably Marcel Dancy will be the starting tailback, and Jake Tonges is a good bet to start at tight end. Redshirt freshman Orin Patu is likely to start at outside linebacker.
Cal released a statement on Saturday noting that a player did test positive for the COVID-19.
The statement read as follows:
One member of the Cal football program has tested positive for COVID-19 through hisregularly scheduled PCR test. As a result of contact tracing, several student-athletes have been placed in quarantine.
Since student-athlete testing began in June, Cal Athletics has conducted 4,671 total PCR tests among all student-athletes on teams that have returned t campus for practice or competition (through Nov. 15) with 22 positive results. Two football student-athletes have tested positive since daily testing began in early October.
It is unclear how long these players will be sidelined. Presumably they will not be allowed to participate in practice next week, and it seems unlikely they would be cleared to play in next Friday's home game against Stanford.
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