Buckeye Breakfast: Maryland Halts Workouts, Greg Sankey Concerned, What to Expect for Buckeye Season
Rise and shine, Buckeye Nation! Each morning, we get you caught up on the latest news and information regarding the Ohio State Buckeyes and the college athletics world. Here are your headlines for July 13, 2020.
Maryland Halts Voluntary Workouts
The University of Maryland announced that voluntary training for the football program has been temporarily suspended after their latest CoVID-19 test results came back. Maryland tested 185 student-athletes and staff members. Nine of those tests came back positive for the novel coronavirus.
“These nine student-athletes and staff have been notified and are currently in self-isolation, monitored by university health officials," the university said in a statement. "Contact tracing is ongoing through the Prince George’s County Health Department and all identified individuals will follow a mandated 14-day self-observation period, under the supervision of university health officials.”
Maryland joins the Buckeyes and the University of North Carolina in shutting down voluntary workouts last week.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey: Concern about Football Season 'High to Very High'
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said Saturday that he is very concerned for the upcoming college football season, admitting "We are running out of time to correct and get things right."
The Big Ten and PAC-12 both moved to a conference-only game schedule late last week, but the SEC hasn't made a decision yet on how they'll handle a potential season. During an interview on Marty & McGee on ESPN Radio, Sankey was asked what plans the SEC had discussed for the upcoming year, with coronavirus cases across the South rising.
"We put a medical advisory group together in early April with the question, 'What do we have to do to get back to activity?' and they've been a big part of the conversation," Sankey said. "But the direct reality is not good and the notion that we've politicized medical guidance of distancing, and breathing masks, and hand sanitization, ventilation of being outside, being careful where you are in buildings. There's some very clear advice about -- you can't mitigate and eliminate every risk, but how do you minimize the risk? ... We are running out of time to correct and get things right, and as a society we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be."
Sankey doubled-down that the SEC's deadline to make a decision for the fall is late July, and he isn't feeling pressure to expedite that process because of the Big Ten and PAC-12's decisions last week.
Five Pressing Questions Facing Ohio State Football
When will the season start? How many games will the Buckeyes play? When should the Michigan game be scheduled? BuckeyesNow publisher Brendan Gulick attempts to answer some of the hardest and most unpredictable questions facing the Buckeyes for the upcoming season.
We hope you have a great holiday, and remember ... time and change will surely show, how firm thy friendship OHIO!
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