LSU Football Defensive End Travez Moore Updates His Experience with COVID-19
The past few weeks, college football stars around the country have made their voices known about the concern level of playing a 2020 season.
As conferences and athletic directors continue to go back and forth on plans for the upcoming season, players are making sure they won't be left out in the decision making process. Last week, hundreds of players in the Pac 12 issued a list of health protocols and assurances they want from the conference before stepping foot on the field for a game.
Over the weekend, the Washington Post released a story about a conversation between SEC student-athletes and the conference decision makers. In the reported conversation, athletes raised concerns about having a season.
"There are going to be outbreaks. We are going to have cases on every single team in the SEC. That's a given. And we can't prevent it,"an SEC official was quoted in the story.
"Part of our work is to bring as much certainty in the midst of this really strange time as we can so you can play football in the most healthy way possible, with the understanding there aren’t any guarantees in life," commissioner Greg Sankey said in the conversation.
On Tuesday, LSU defensive end Travez Moore was the first Tiger athlete to speak up on having COVID-19 and what the last few weeks have been like for him in the aftermath of the disease. Moore posted the following message on social media.
"Bro coronavirus is real 👎🏿.. i was 256 now I’m 229 because i lost my appetite and it’s hard to eat plus you can barley breath. You can’t smell food you can’t taste food or taste any liquids.. stay y’all ass in the house," Moore wrote.
Of course, Moore isn't the only player that has shed light on the effects the virus can have. Ole Miss linebacker MoMo Sanogo expressed his discomfort with having to sit next to students in class.
Sanogo said his primary concern is students who party and potentially infect football players.
“As un-fun as it sounds the best thing that you can do is just try to encourage others to act more responsibly and not put yourself in those kinds of situations," one official responded to Sanogo. "I’m very comfortable with what we’ve done on campus. I’m concerned about what happens from 5 p.m. until 5 a.m.”
Virginia Tech cornerback Caleb Farley became the first high profile player to announce he would not be participating this year. In a letter to NBC Sports "Football Morning in America," the projected first round pick talked about the decision.
"Guys were going home, going to Myrtle Beach, coming back to campus, and we weren't getting tested," Farley wrote. "We're all together, working out, close to each other, and you have no real idea who might have it, if anybody might have it. One day I looked around, and we were like 100-deep in our indoor facility, no masks. My concern grew more and more."
Minnesota receiver Rashod Bateman joined Farley on Tuesday when it was reported he'd be electing to sit out the 2020 season. Like Farley, Bateman is considered one of the top prospects in next year's draft.
How the conferences choose to approach the concerns of the athletes over the coming weeks will be interesting. Conversations like the ones the SEC had with its players is one way to ease tension.
The SEC has said all along that it will put the health and safety of the student-athletes above anything else. We'll see exactly what that looks like as more updates are provided.
