Check Out Where Malcolm Rodriguez Spent His COVID-19 Quarantine
STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez announced on Twitter back on June 14 that he had tested positive for the COVID-19 as he checked back in for workouts at Oklahoma State. Most of the Oklahoma State football student-athletes that have tested positive for the coronavirus have gone into quarantine of campus in a location away from their teammates and kept quiet. So far, Pokes Report had confirmed eight football student-athletes with having tested positive for the virus and that goes back to the trio of players, including linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, that tested positive in the first phase of players reporting. There were three phases and Rodriguez and walk-on receiver Gabe Simpson both went public on Twitter with their positive tests in the second phase. We were told by an Oklahoma State football source that there were more in the third phase bringing the total to 13. That number was further updated to 14 positive tests on June 29.
The players quarantined on campus are fed by delivery and get regular medical check-ups daily as well as monitoring by Oklahoma State football support staff. However, Rodriguez chose a different route in isolation and it was explained by his mother through a story, written by Scott Wright, in the Sunday edition of The Oklahoman.
The Cowboys hard hitting linebacker and a player that Pokes Report voted as a preseason first-team All-Big 12 performer following up his season last fall where he made 103 tackles to lead the team and finish fourth in the conference, decided to go home for quarantine. Obviously, he did not want to risk infecting his family, so he camped out in the driveway in the family camper. It's a unique way to ride out a COVID-19 quarantine, but it fits Rodriguez. The Cowboys linebacker, who also picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa State on the road last season, spent most of the two plus months at the start of the pandemic at home and was religious about his strength workouts in the garage he called a home gym.
The Oklahoman's Wright connected with Rodriguez' mother to find out more about the camping quarantine.
“It’s hard to be in that situation and not be able to hug your baby,” Shanna Rodriguez said to Wright and The Oklahoman. “He was feeling like an outsider. You knock on the door and leave his meal there. It almost felt like a prisoner situation.
“I made sure he had everything he needed. I was pumping him full of all the tried-and-true methods," she added. "I was doing my best to be mom from afar, being safe and making sure he made a full recovery.”
Rodriguez, who stayed asymptomatic throughout his quarantine, is cleared now having gone back to Stillwater and been tested for the virus and for the antibodies that he now has. Rodriguez is back working out with his teammates.
