Breaking: Tennessee Football Reportedly Pauses Activity Due to COVID Outbreak

Josh Heupel's Tennessee Volunteers are slated to start Spring practice next week on March 23rd, but the Volunteers are now facing a COVID shutdown just days before the start. 

VR2 on SI has since confirmed the initial breaking news report from Jimmy Hyams of WNML stating: "The Tennessee football program has been shut down due to positive COVID tests and contact tracing. It was shuttered this morning and is set to re-open Monday, if no further outbreak. That includes players and coaches." 

Sources indicate to VR2 on SI that Tennessee has been dealing with an outbreak among assistant coaches and players, and these individuals have self-isolated and followed the mandated guidelines. The Tennessee team is beginning the process of starting vaccinations for their players and had a virtual meeting with parents about the process this week.

Update- Statement from Tennessee: “ The Tennessee football program has temporarily paused all team activities out of an abundance of caution after its recent rounds of COVID-19 surveillance testing revealed multiple positive tests among staff members and student-athletes.”

“Upon learning of the positive results, the staff members and student-athletes immediately self-isolated and are taking the appropriate safety measures in accordance with university, CDC and local health department guidelines.“

Tennessee is set to hold spring practice over the course of a month with the Orange and White game set for April 24th. This Spring will be crucial for Josh Heupel, as he cannot afford to miss any time installing his offense or defense. 

"The way we play is unique, and it's been publicized by the people that saw what we were doing at UCF," Alex Golesh recently told the media. "You have to start a big picture on how we play, schematically and tempo, and then start to hone in on the run game and the passing game. We've already started on the big picture and then working back down on the fine details on how we operate. Being unique, that's where it all started. Lining up, splits, tempo, how we call things. You're starting at ground zero because it's so different from what the guys that have been here are used to. As we get closer to spring, we want to fine tune the fundamental technique part that we're doing. We want to start at that big picture standpoint then break it down into smaller pieces."