Lincoln Riley: Masks Are a Part of OU Football in 2020
Marcellus Crutchfield
OU Athletics / Ty Russell
Lincoln Riley isn’t sure what the right answer is. Not when there are still so many questions.
But Riley does have one hard, fast truth to which he will cling in 2020.
“We’re gonna have our faces covered,” Riley says, “somewhat, somehow.”
Well into their second full week of preseason football practice, Oklahoma players seem to have gotten used to wearing masks during their workouts. Riley said it’s a practice that will continue until epidemiologists and infectious disease experts give them the all clear.
“We’ve had to adjust our practice schedule to give them more breaks, rotating guys a little more,” Riley said Saturday on a video press conference. “Just catching your breath, your bodies are working a little bit harder with those things on. I think it’s very doable. We’ve been able to have very, very good practices with that. It’s gonna be an adjustment whatever we decide.”
Lincoln Riley
OU Athletics / Ty Russell
Riley explained that the Sooners started working out with simple a cloth covering over the players’ facemasks, and every player is wearing a plastic face shield. From there, it’s been an effort to find the model that works best for each player during a pandemic.
“We’ve experimented with three things,” Riley said, “Cloth covering, which (is) effective, not bad as far as breathing. The big problem with that is vision. You just all of a sudden something covering you right here (over the eyes), it really limits the vision, which is different.
“We’ve experimented with the plastic shield that’s over the face and the facemask. Again, breathing-wise, not awful there from what we’ve been told by our players. Biggest issue there is that fogging up, and then what’s your answer if you get in a game where it’s raining or you’re dealing with the elements.
“And then we’ve experimented with the normal masks, like our guys wear all other parts, just being on underneath the helmet. Probably had the most success with that, because it doesn’t get knocked off, you know, doesn’t fog up. I think our guys are getting used to having them on all the time.”
Bill Be
OU Athletics / Ty Russell
Practice is one thing. Riley knows there are more challenges ahead as the Sept. 12 season opener draws near.
“As far as games, haven’t received really much guidance yet on that on what’s gonna be required,” he said. “But, if given up to us, we’re gonna have our faces covered somewhat, somehow. Because again, the health of the student-athlete being priority No. 1. There’s no replacement fo having a mask or something that acts as a mask on at any point. So that’s why we’ve been stressing it on the practice field and anywhere else.”
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