Changes greet returning football players
A phased return to Penn State’s campus began this week, and perhaps nobody had a shorter commute than State College High School alumnus and Nittany Lions cornerback Keaton Ellis.
“It’s the first step to getting back to playing the sport that we love,” Ellis said via Zoom. “This week is about making sure that everyone is healthy. I’m really excited to be back and happy to be moving forward.”
Monday, dozens of athletes made their way back to Holuba Hall to start preparing for the 2020 football season. The school announced last week the return to campus would begin with 75 football players, with plans for other programs being announced at a later date.
Those players were tested for COVID-19 and went through a prescribed quarantine before they came back to campus, according to the school. They also will undergo another period of isolation before they’re allowed to participate in group workouts starting Monday.
The COVID-19 test took 15 seconds, according to Ellis. He said the test wasn’t overly invasive, but it’s the new normal not only for Penn State but also for college athletes across the county. Remember all those fun videos of players setting records on the bench press or squat rack, the ones where teammates and coaches surround the player? That likely won’t be a thing for a while as workouts will be limited in size to groups of fewer than 20.
Penn State team meetings will be via Zoom for the foreseeable future. Players won’t gather in the lounge at the Lasch building. There won’t be a traditional training table. Each player will receive a pre-packaged meal before and after workouts.
Ellis acknowledged all those changes will force adjustments.
“It’ll be different. It’s going to be weird when a guy does something great, and you can’t dap him up,” said Ellis, who forced three fumbles last season as a freshman. “Everything isn’t going to be normal. We are all going to have to make sacrifices. But there will still be ways to encourage a teammate. We’ll have to get creative and vocal.”
Several schools, including Auburn and Alabama, have said they have had players test positive for COVID-19 upon returning to campus. It’s unclear whether the Nittany Lions have had similar results.
“We are very confident in our plan and will continue to keep the health, safety and well-being of our students, coaches, staff, and community as our top priority,” athletic director Sandy Barbour said last week in a statement announcing athletes’ returns. “Our outstanding sports-performance group worked with medical experts at both the [u]niversity, conference, and national level, as well as [u]niversity leadership in developing an extensive return-to-campus plan for our student-athletes, staff and facilities.”
Camps go virtual
A virtual combine will replace canceled summer camps at Penn State for high school prospects.
“The best way for college coaches to evaluate prospective student-athletes is to see them perform live and in-person, but, frequently, this is not an option,” the school said in a statement to athletes and coaches. “Our goal here is to provide prospects with detailed instructions on how to best showcase their talents to college coaches when in-person evaluation opportunities are not available.”
Summer camps are crucial for a football program to show off its campus to recruits while evaluating them. Players will have the opportunity to submit film of themselves running the 40-yard-dash, agility drills, position drills and other measurables. That won’t fully replace summer camps, but will assist in the evaluation process.