Ehlinger focuses Longhorns on end goals
AUSTIN — Sam Ehlinger never really ruminated on his ritualistic finger-licking in the pre-pandemic days.
But that practice, like so many other once-innocuous routines, is on the verge of extinction in the coronavirus era.
“Everything in our lives has had to change a little bit,” Ehlinger said Tuesday. “Especially for me, as much as I lick my fingers I’m trying to cut that out. It’s really tough for me because it is a habit, but I think that there’s a lot of different little things like that that I’m conscious of now that I wasn’t in December.”
Improving individual hygiene could help keep the coronavirus at bay, especially in conjunction with the procedures and policies implemented by Texas athletics. But it’s still a minefield outside the Longhorns’ practice field, and that’s where this experiment could fly off the rails.
Already this week Notre Dame and North Carolina — two universities moving forward with fall football — were forced to suspend all on-campus learning and shift to a fully virtual model after dozens of students tested positive for COVID-19. On Monday, Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne even felt compelled to tweet-shame the large crowds of students flocking to Tuscaloosa bars.
Some students already returned to the Forty Acres this week, with more arriving between Thursday and Sunday. Texas estimates about 4,500 undergraduates will stay on-campus during the fall semester, a smaller population than usual but still one that could cause problems.
Ehlinger is fully aware of the havoc one positive test could wreak on the Longhorns, who have had three players opt out of the 2020 season due to concerns over COVID-19. He also trusts everyone understands the gravity of the situation.
“I’d be lying if I told you it would be easy to control 100 18-to-22 year old guys in college,” Ehlinger said. “But, I don’t worry about it. I think that we have enough leadership and mature guys on this team to be able to control that.”
Texas coach Tom Herman selected Ehlinger and junior safety Caden Sterns to represent the players in discussions with Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and conference athletic directors. That, too, was a strange experience, one prompted by a global pandemic.
Ehlinger said he found those conference calls enlightening and useful, even as a mostly silent party, particularly when it came to keeping teammates in the loop. He and Sterns will have to continue on as voices of authority to their teammates, just as Herman will have to keep his own staff from stepping out of line and contracting COVID-19.
“The most mature and responsible team will be the one that has a chance to compete this year,” Ehlinger said. “And so being a leader on the team, it’s important that we continue to express that to the guys.
“All the fun things in college will be there in January. If we can get through the season and avoid those distractions and avoid bringing the virus back to the team, that’d be a huge win for us.”
Texas has managed to avoid the formation of COVID-19 clusters since midJune, when it confirmed 13 players had tested positive while 10 more had to selfisolate for two weeks. Ehlinger would like keep it that way so he can have a senior season, as strange as it’s going to be.
So, no finger-licking. No bars. No lake parties. Limited in-person classes. Whatever it takes to get as close to “normal” as possible.
“Once we put the pads on and we get out on the practice field — everything besides having a mask on and not being able to breathe as well — it’s back to football,” Ehlinger said. “We’re trying to control what we can control and what we can control is getting better every day. That would be no different if none of this was going on. So once we get out on the field and the ball is put down, everything feels back to normal.”