SEC Set to Honor Scholarships for Opt-Out Student-Athletes
The SEC made a major move to protect its student-athletes yesterday, allowing each individual who decides to opt-out of fall athletes to continue receiving their scholarship and benefits, allowing them to remain in good standing with their programs.
"SEC universities are committed to full support of its student-athletes, whether or not a student-athlete decides to participate in sports during these uncertain times," said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "SEC student-athletes have frequently expressed their desire to compete, but it is important for student-athletes and their families to know the financial support committed to them by their institutions will not be at risk because of health concerns presented by the current pandemic."
Thus far, the rule is only to be set in place for the fall season, however, given the volatility of the coronavirus pandemic, the SEC is leaving room to potentially extend the move into the spring semester. At this time, however, that is not the case.
Players who may feel the need to opt-out of fall athletics could do so due to the impact the virus has on each individual, their families and so on. Because of that, there have been questions regarding scholarships, however, no student-athlete for the Florida Gators has publically decided to opt-out.
Another issue which has risen is the impact of student-athletes if there were not to be a season. Because of testing, economics and general welfare of the student-athletes and the students, in general, on-campus, there has not been any word as far as the continuation of the season is concerned.
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On Tuesday, Gators athletic director, Scott Stricklin put to rest any concerns over athletes not remaining on scholarship even in the event no sports are played.
"All our athletes are getting their benefits whether we play games or not. They're going to get their scholarship, they’re gonna get their cost of attendance cash and the things that we provide them on a normal basis whether we play games or not. That is our priority," he said.
With the Gators potentially hurt financially in the event of a lost season, particularly for football, but other athletics as well, they may have to make some difficult decisions moving forward, however, the students will remain protected.
"Whether we can do that and still hire staff to support them at the same time, we’ll have to make that determination. We may have some tough days and tough decisions ahead but we’re gonna make sure that we’re putting things in place to provide for our student-athletes in the best way we know how.”
There will be plenty of changes to be made as we move forward through determining the fate of the season, but for now, it appears the student-athletes remain the top priority, not only or the SEC, but for the Gators swell. And that's a good thing.
