When it comes to the Mizzou football players’ safety, it’s not just about COVID-19
Missouri offensive lineman Case Cook is exactly the type of player who might feel unsafe playing football during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By the very nature of his position, Cook is deep in the trenches on every snap, banging around in a pile of players as he tries to protect whoever wins Mizzou’s starting-quarterback job this fall.
That poses multiple potential problems in avoiding the easily transferred coronavirus, but Cook said he feels safe in his high-contact role because of the health measures MU has in place. The players will wear a visor-type material on their facemasks as one layer of protection, Cook said.
Cook also pointed to a harsh but simple truth: Playing football is always a health risk, anyway.
“That’s why we have athletic trainers,” he said. “That’s why we have an ambulance at the games every day. It’s always a risk. It’s just up to each individual person to assess that risk, whether they want to play.”
Player safety has come to the forefront for a sport that’s been fractured by disagreement among the Power Five conferences. The Big Ten and Pac-12 shelved all of their fall sports this week, saying they hope to play football in the spring. Both leagues postponed on the advice of their respective medical professionals.
The SEC, Big 12 and ACC, meanwhile, have remained committed to playing this fall. Dr. Cameron Wolfe, a Duke University doctor and chairman of the ACC’s advisory team, said he believes the football season can be played safely.
General physical fitness is also an issue this month as teams across the SEC, Big 12 and ACC begin full-on practices. Training camp starts Monday for the Tigers, who will have 25 sessions in which to build their bodies into playing shape.
When Mizzou shut down all sports after just three spring football workouts, a ripple effect followed. Barred from using the school’s training facilities until June, players were left to contend with a several-month void of organized, on-site training. Many had nothing to use for workouts but home-gym equipment.
Even now, back on campus, MU receiver Barrett Banister said their workout sessions are different than they used to be because of new safety protocols in the weight room. The players aren’t maxing out during weight training, for example, because they don’t have spotters, the redshirt junior said.
“The best thing that we can do is prepare ourselves, and we’ve got to prepare like we’re going to play because as of now, we are,” Banister said. “If we’re over-prepared and it ends up not happening, then no harm done. That’s the main thing: just making sure you don’t lose your focus.”
Mizzou’s players say they have been careful about following guidelines put in place by their program’s officials. The Tigers have shown a COVID-19 positivity rate of less than 3 percent and haven’t reported any outbreaks. Maintaining that level of caution, Banister said, is their way of ensuring MU will be able to play as scheduled.
“That decision is not up to us,” Banister said. “We can play a part in it by doing our job, like social distancing and wearing a mask and all that. At the end of the day, that’s out of our control and we’ve just got to prepare for what’s been laid out in front of us.”
Eliah Drinkwitz, the Tigers’ first-year head coach, retained three assistant coaches on defense, but the majority of the team’s returning players are also adapting to new faces on the coaching staff. MU linebacker Jamal Brooks said “nothing is normal” as the Tigers inch closer to preseason camp.
“Everything is different,” Brook said. “The standard. The way we go about things in the weight room. But honestly, as a senior on this team, one of the older guys, I’m actually confident and enthused at how the team has bonded.”
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 2:31 PM.