Penn State Football Players Join the #IWantToPlay Movement

With college football's 2020 season on shaky ground, some Penn State players expressed their confidence in playing safely.

Sports Illustrated reported Saturday that the "machinery is in motion" to postpone the 2020 college football season. Penn State players later emerged on social media voicing hopes that it can be saved.

Several Nittany Lions joined the Twitter hashtag #IWantToPlay to express both their confidence in COVID-19 testing and prevention protocols at Penn State and their desire to play a football season.

"There’s a reason our team has had little to no cases or complications with handling COVID-19," quarterback Will Levis wrote. "I am extremely grateful for our staff, and particularly the training staff, for putting our health first and thus allowing us to continue mastering our crafts. We are ready. #IWantToPlay."

The Penn State football doctors, trainers, and coaches have always put our safety and well being before anything else. The precautions and guidelines that our team is following puts us in the best position possible to be healthy and successful. #WeWantToPlay

— Will Fries (@willfries55) August 9, 2020

Teammates Michal Menet, Will Fries, Pat Freiermuth, PJ Mustipher, Jake Pinegar and Sean Clifford were among those who contributed their voices, along with players nationwide, as college administrators determined the game's next steps. But players eager to return are beginning to face reality, as Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde said.

There are a lot of prominent CFB players from prominent teams getting on social media to say they want to play. My educated guess is that they sense the tenuous nature of the situation and want their voices heard before decisions are made on go/no-go.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) August 9, 2020

Penn State was scheduled to enter its third day of training camp Sunday. On Day 3 of the acclimatization period, players are permitted to wear shoulder pads along with helmets as protective equipment. On the fifth day, players normally are permitted to wear full pads.

But the Big Ten on Saturday froze the acclimatization period at Day 2, meaning that players remain limited to wearing helmets as the only piece of protective equipment until further notice.

"In order to make the right health and safety decisions for our student-athletes, we believe it is best to continue in the appropriate phase of activity referenced above while we digest and share information from each campus to ensure we are moving forward cautiously," the Big Ten said.

In its last public release July 29, Penn State reported eight student-athletes had tested positive for COVID-19. The teams represented among those positive tests were not announced.

Amid this backdrop, some Penn State players described their comfort level with university protocols under the #IWantToPlay hashtag.

Through the noise and the uncertainty, everyone in this program has worked day in and day out since we arrived back on campus in early June. We will continue preparing under proper guidlines for the upcoming season hopeful that the Big Ten will allow us to play.

— Pj Mustipher (@KingPJ55) August 9, 2020

The Penn State football doctors, trainers, and coaches have always put our safety and well being before anything else. The precautions and guidelines that our team is following puts us in the best position possible to be healthy and successful. #WeWantToPlay

— Will Fries (@willfries55) August 9, 2020

Our staff and athletic department have a great plan for us to stay safe and get us ready for the season. We are able to continue getting better and I have felt safe every step of the way. We want to play and we will be ready to play

— Michal Menet (@Mike_Menet62) August 9, 2020

Freiermuth, who returned to Penn State though he was eligible to enter the 2020 NFL draft, said, "We are ready to play and we want to play."

Since day one coming back to campus the Penn State Football staff and medical experts have put our health and safety first, above anything else. The guidelines put into place keep us safe while playing the game we love. We are ready to play and we want to play.

— Pat Freiermuth (@pat_fry5) August 9, 2020

Clifford discussed the first day of camp in a video produced by Penn State.

Sean Clifford (@seancliff14) breaks down Day 1️⃣ of Training Camp with Mitch Gerber (@MitchGerber)!#WeAre

Student-athletes are wearing clear top + bottom helmet face shields during play & all student-athletes & staff are wearing masks at all times. pic.twitter.com/trH06VMdTB

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) August 8, 2020

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