Has This Season Been Worth It?

Penn State players and coaches sacrificed plenty to play the 2020 football season. Have those sacrifices been worth it?

Through all the testing, masking, separation, sacrifice and losing, Penn State sits on the brink of completing its Big Ten regular season without canceling a practice or game. Quite an accomplishment, really, one that should be noted in 2020.

But it also prompted a question: Has the sacrifice been worth it? Head coach James Franklin and several players addressed that Tuesday, with varying degrees of certitude.

"That's a good question," Franklin said.

Penn State has been among the Big Ten's model athletic programs in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, charting a course that Franklin called thorough, and occasionally "conservative," but one that successfully prevented significant outbreaks.

For the week of Nov. 21-27, Penn State had two positive test results for COVID-19 among more than 1,100 tests administered to all athletes. The week prior, it had four positive test results. The athletic department paused some team practices during a short summer case spike, but the football program wasn't affected.

As part of their prevention protocols, players practiced and met in small groups early on, didn't have a full team meeting until November and used three different locker rooms on campus at one point.

Away from the field, players couldn't go home or host family and friends, waved to their parents in the Beaver Stadium stands on gamedays, attended most classes virtually and kept their social circles essentially team-centered. On Senior Day, parents will be not be permitted onto the field.

Quarterback Sean Clifford said he lived alone at one point this season. Defensive end Shaka Toney said players' days consist basically of football and school. After the team's last two victories, players celebrated in-house instead of going out and risking bringing COVID into the program. Toney feels uncomfortable entering stores because of the potential risk.

And Franklin? He hasn't seen his family in person since August, because they are living separately to protect daughter Addison, who has Sickle cell disease. Among the highlights of Franklin's gamedays have been video chats with his family during pre-game field walks.

"I can't tell you what I would do for a hug from my wife and daughters," Franklin said.

Amid that, Penn State lost its first five games, taking a browbeating in some corners of fandom, before winning its last two. So, has it all been worth it? Here's the range of answers.

"It's the little things that people just don't see when they might think that we’re just kind of going about our day like everything’s normal, but really there’s been nothing normal about it," Clifford said. "It’s been a very interesting process, to say the least, but I take everything as a chance and an opportunity, and I think it’s been completely worth it. Taught me a lot of lessons that I’m going to continue grow on and learn from. Definitely appreciative of 2020."

"It's definitely worth it," senior offensive lineman Will Fries said. "To be able to play with these guys for another year, no matter how many games it was, it was definitely worth it. ... As far as the sacrifice, a lot of people don't realize that you can't enjoy a normal life. No one really can, obviously, but it makes it tough being away from your family, knowing they're at the games and knowing you can't see them. That's been the toughest thing and biggest sacrifice for our team."

"Pump your brakes before you start judging us," Toney said. "Mentally, this has been so tough. And you add on losing, we're already going through so much. Be happy that at least you get to watch football this year. ... Gotta be grateful, gotta appreciate the stuff we're doing here. I think we're a model program for how people handle coronavirus. Shoutout to coach Franklin. He took all the precautions he needed. Shoutout to Penn State."

Franklin said that, "right now, in the heat of it all, it's hard to answer" that question. Penn State is preparing for a game Saturday, potentially another next week in the Big Ten's crossover tour, and has to squeeze in a Signing Day ceremony Dec. 16.

But when this season is over, with or without a bowl game, Franklin wants his players, coaches and staff to take some time apart before they return for the 2021 spring semester, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 19.

Franklin also faces another question: When can his family return to State College?

Because Sickle cell disease can compromise immune systems, Franklin and his wife and daughters (who are at a family home in the South) chose to live separately to maintain a strict quarantine. Franklin also has mentioned on multiple occasions the lack of local facilities in State College to treat those with Sickle cell disease.

That will factor into the coach's immediate plans as well. Which leads back to the question: Has it all been worth it?

"That's a good question," Franklin repeated. "... I think we're still in a position where it's still hard to predict what the future holds, when this is going to end, when this is going to change how are we going to get back to normal."

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