Athletes working out on campus inspiring sight for A&M’s Bjork
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork knows fans look forward to seeing the Aggies back on their respective fields and courts this fall.
For his part, Bjork looked forward simply to seeing A&M athletes out and about on the west side of campus this week because of the lift it provides knowing college sports are one step closer to taking place starting in late August, even as a global pandemic presses on.
“I saw Kellen Mond this morning,” Bjork said Tuesday of the Aggies’ four-year starting quarterback, “and you could see the bounce in his step. And his smile.”
A&M’s fall athletes began on-campus voluntary workouts Tuesday, a day after the original schedule under Gov. Greg Abbott’s directives allowed for a return. A&M canceled school Monday in tribute to George Floyd, a black man who died after being pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer May 25.
The death of Floyd, who was raised in Houston and buried Tuesday in Pearland, sparked worldwide protests calling out police brutality and racism. A&M gave its nonessential personnel Monday off “in observance of Mr. Floyd’s tragic death” and to perhaps watch or take part in Floyd’s initial Houston memorial service at The Fountain of Praise church, according to a statement from the university.
Mond and hundreds of his maroon-wearing peers were finally back at it Tuesday follow
ing the cancelation of spring drills, and Aggies third-year coach Jimbo Fisher said that’s a good thing for all involved — even if he and his position coaches are primarily observing from a distance in the early stages.
“For the (players) to get back to normality and working in their own facilities — now, we can’t be with them in our strength and conditioning because it’s all voluntary workouts — (but) they’re eager to do it, and they’re wanting to do it, and I think it gets them back to normality,” Fisher said Tuesday via A&M athletics.
Bjork, hired from the same AD position at Mississippi a year ago, said he’s been impressed with Abbott’s methodical approach to reopening the state. The Aggies are scheduled to open their season Sept. 5 at home against Abilene Christian, and if that opener occurred this week, Kyle Field would be allowed about 51,000 fans — half the stadium’s capacity.
“I love the way our governor is approaching this, as a step-bystep approach,” Bjork told the Chronicle. “If we played today, it’s 50 percent (at Kyle), and we still have about three months.
I’m optimistic we can get to a point where we can have all kinds of the best (preventative) practices and all kinds of risk mitigation … that we’re going to educate our fans.
“And we want as many fans in there as possible. That’s what we’re planning for.”
Bjork said roughly 500 tests for coronavirus had been administered to A&M athletes and personnel in the past couple weeks and that “less than five” had tested positive for COVID-19, all of them asymptomatic. Any athlete or A&M staffer who tests positive is automatically quarantined for at least 14 days.
“Our goal is to make this safe as possible, knowing we had student-athletes all over the place,” Bjork said of the athletes’ return to campus this month. “Some stayed here, and others went back to their homes.”
Bjork added that with masks required in campus buildings starting Monday and in some outdoor areas this summer and perhaps throughout the semester, athletes working out in the weight room and taking part in practices are exceptions to the directive.
“There’s a (committee) on campus looking at exceptions to the policy, and right now our student-athletes working out in our weight rooms are an exception … because wearing masks during exercise may have other adverse effects,” Bjork said. “During practices, maybe our coaches will have to wear them, but we’ve determined based on talking to doctors that wearing masks (in those situations) could have a more adverse effect than not wearing them.”
The A&M football team finished 8-5 in Fisher’s second season, returns eight starters on offense and 10 on defense and is expected to compete for its first SEC West title.
“You can feel the excitement throughout the players and pretty much throughout the whole building,” Mond said, via an A&M athletics interview, of the team’s being together again. “We have a lot of talent, and we have to figure out how to plug those puzzle pieces in.”