Mizzou football had a COVID-19 positive, knocking out 7 players for LSU game
While the Missouri Tigers haven’t been in the news because of COVID-19 in recent weeks, they’ll be missing players when they take on No. 17 LSU on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Mizzou coach Eliah Drinkwitz said the team had a positive test for the novel coronavirus during this week’s round of testing. That one positive will affect the playing status of an additional six players, due to the requisite contact tracing, which will result in those players being asked to quarantine.
It means the Tigers will be missing at least seven players for their game against LSU. Drinkwitz said he hasn’t gotten the results yet from Thursday’s testing, which he usually receives Friday.
“It is what it is,” Drinkwitz said on his weekly radio show on Thursday. “It’s part of the 2020 norm. We look forward to the challenge and the opportunity that presents for other players to play.”
Drinkwitz didn’t disclose which players will be missing Saturday’s game, though he added fans will “know soon enough as soon as we take the football field.”
Mizzou hasn’t missed key starters through the opening first two games, though the Tigers did deal with COVID-19 issues. In the season opener against Alabama, they missed seven players because of the virus.
While the Tigers will miss a different set of seven players Saturday against LSU, they did return some players from quarantine within the last week. Drinkwitz said Tuesday they had two players return to practice, while another pair of Tigers returned last week. Once they make it back, Drinkwitz said they’ll be full participants in practice.
When Drinkwitz was asked about the COVID-19 situation of his team on Tuesday, he said they needed additional time to sort through results after last weekend’s road trip to Tennessee. Drinkwitz said on Thursday that “specifically when we’re traveling, it puts us in a very difficult position” when it comes to the virus.
“We all really took a lesson last week when the president of the United States is able to contract the virus,” Drinkwitz said. “I think we can do as great a job as we can, but we all gotta practice safe social distancing. We gotta wash our hands, and testing can only do so much.”
MU is set to host LSU at 11 a.m. Saturday at Faurot Field because of a change in venue. Mizzou was initially set to travel to Baton Rouge for the game. As Hurricane Delta heads for the Gulf Coast, the SEC made the decision to move the game from Tiger Stadium to Memorial Stadium.
Drinkwitz’s Tigers are also dealing with some injuries. Cornerback Jarvis Ware sat out the Tennessee loss because of a knee injury. He was the player guest on the radio show, and he said he’ll play against LSU on Saturday.
“We’re a beat up football team,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday. “That’s what happens when you play two physical SEC opponents back-to-back. … You got all the COVID stuff and you got all that stuff, but the physicality of this game in this league added up over 10 weeks is really going to be a toughness check for us. It’s starting right now.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 6:59 PM.