San Jose State to relocate its team to Humboldt to practice
SAN JOSc >> In a move that adds another wrinkle to an unusual college football season, San Jose State announced Wednesday that it will relocate to Arcata to prepare for its Mountain West Conference opener scheduled Oct. 24.
The Spartans said in a news release that they reached an agreement with Humboldt State to move the team to the Lumberjacks’ campus this week. According to the statement, the team will remain in Humboldt to perform football-related activities until Santa Clara County guidelines “are aligned for the team to return home for standard NCAA football practice activities.” The team leaves Friday. San Jose State has not been able to practice this year because of Santa Clara County restrictions on activities to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. School officials have been searching for
alternate practice sites outside the county, including Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont. The Catholic school declined to rent its stadium to San Jose State because of availability issues and the team’s roster size, according to Notre Dame officials.
Santa Clara County public health officials said this week they had hoped San Jose State would adhere to its guidelines. When asked about the possibility of relocating the team, officials said in a statement to this news organization: “We would be very disappointed to see a football team going outside the county to circumvent a process that
was put in place to ensure the safety of its players and staff.”
An SJSU spokesman did not address the county’s concerns.
San Jose State has faced some of the strictest guidelines for return to play. For example, the San Jose Earthquakes were the final of the 26 Major League Soccer teams to gain local approval to practice earlier this year.
Although the San Francisco 49ers also received approval to practice and hold games in the county, the area’s two footballplaying schools still need to get cleared.
“We understand the desire of many sports teams to resume practice, just as many businesses are eager to resume,” a county statement issued to this news
organization said. “But the risk of COVID-19’s spread in our county remains substantial.”
The statement said the Public Health Department has outlined a process for any proposal to allow a college football team to practice in the county.
“We will evaluate each proposal based on the revised guidelines developed by the State of California. Because the State has yet to finalize those guidelines, we are not able to opine on the appropriateness of any proposal at this time.”
State officials on Wednesday declined to provide any information about its next steps.
S t a n f or d , a Pa c - 1 2 school located in Santa Clara County, also seeks public health department
approval to open its sevengame season Nov. 6. School officials said in a statement that Stanford has been working with the county to get an application approved.
T he st at ement sa id school officials hope to build on the testing protocols already implemented “to satisfy all public health authority requirements for contact training and competition to resume.”
A San Jose State spokesman said the school also needs approval from the California State College and University system as well as from campus executives.
“We’re taking the opportunities we have right now and doing the best we can,” said Lawrence Fan, San Jose State’s athletics communications director.
T he Mountain West Conference last week announced it planned to have its 12 member schools play an eight-game season starting in 24 days.
SJSU has abided by the NCAA-limited 12 hours a week to work on strength and conditioning and technique at SJSU’s South Campus facility, Fan said.
“We look forward to continued conversations with Santa Clara County health officials regarding our ‘Return to Football’ proposal,” athletic director Marie Tuite said in a statement. “In the meantime, to prepare to compete at the FBS Division I level, it’s imperative that we move from conditioning and skill development practices to team activities.”
Tuite said moving the program to Humboldt
State, which dropped football after the 2018 season, “enables our team to prepare, while our county continues the important work of reviewing and approving our protocols.”
According to the school’s news release, the relocation was made possible because San Jose State is holding virtual classes during the fall semester. Officials said in the release that the players will have access to tutors, mentors and others remotely.
The release said about 135 players, coaches and support staff will travel to Humboldt State.
Only two Spartans players have tested positive for COVID-19 since the football team returned to campus in July, Tuite said last week. Both players were asymptomatic, she added.