Syracuse Football: SU athletics officials are acting with caution

All of ‘Cuse Nation wants Syracuse football to compete this fall, and university administrators are taking the right approach in being prudent.

Uncertainty surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic – what’s occurring at present, and the possibility of a so-called “second wave” later this year – means that it remains unclear as to whether Syracuse football will actually play in official games in the coming months.

Yes, several dozen Orange players returned to the Hill last week for voluntary work-outs. They, along with coaches, team personnel, and athletics department employees were tested for Covid-19 this past Tuesday morning.

Thankfully, SU athletics leaders, in partnership with public-health and government officials, have crafted a detailed operational plan for bringing ‘Cuse football players and other fall-sport student-athletes back to campus for voluntary training.

From my perspective, they are moving things forward, but in an extremely careful way. Even as NCAA officials weigh a proposed pre-season plan for college football later this week, unfortunately news reports have surfaced that players at a few programs around the country have tested positive for Covid-19.

SU athletics administrators have released details about their protocols to test Orange football players and other staff members, per a report from Syracuse.com’s Donna Ditota, and university officials are seemingly being quite thorough.

“I can say to you that we were probably very aggressive in how we put together our plan,” Herman Frazier, senior deputy director of athletics and the university’s new infection control officer, told Ditota.

SU athletics administrators are acting with sensible caution as it pertains to protecting Syracuse football players and others associated with the team.

About 65 ‘Cuse football players headed back to Central New York for on-campus voluntary work-outs this past Monday, and Frazier told Ditota that testing of those guys actually started roughly 14 days before they arrived on the Hill.

For now, football players are placed into small pods, and the hope is to put the entire squad together “over the course of perhaps 45 days or so,” Frazier said.

Testing will continue as players come in daily for voluntary training. A positive test will result in a student-athlete or staff member quarantining for 14 days, as well as other measures.

Frazier told Ditota that Orange athletics officials are likely to test players and others during the week of games themselves. And SU sports leaders are keeping a watchful eye on what other Atlantic Coast Conference schools are doing, as well as programs with which the ‘Cuse is slated to square off with in the non-conference portion of the 2020 campaign.

Separately, in a story by Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters, plans are underway by SU athletics director John Wildhack and his associates to accommodate fans at home contests this fall, “but those plans are subject to change” given the pandemic.

Wildhack had previously gone on record in saying that he anticipates reduced capacity at the Carrier Dome this fall during football match-ups. Since the Orange plays its first two games on the road, its home opener is Sept. 19 against Colgate, which is three months away.

In the Waters piece, Wildhack said it’s certainly feasible that fans would have to wear masks inside the facility and also have their temperature checked before going inside the Dome.

With all the uncertainty that the pandemic has brought with it, Wildhack says that reduced attendance could prove anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent. There’s also the potential for no fans in the stands.

“You can’t state anything definitively at this point because there’s still so much that we don’t know that we’ll learn as we go forward,” Wildhack told Waters. “It’s all to be determined.”