AD mum on if players tested positive

CORAL GABLES – Miami Hurricanes athletic director Blake James on Monday declined to comment on whether any UM football players have tested positive for coronavirus since the team officially returned to campus for voluntary workouts last week.

Asked if Miami has had any positive tests, James said, “We don’t discuss individuals with tests.”

Before that, James, who was speaking to reporters after a press conference where Hurricanes legend Ray Lewis and Toast Distillers, Inc. donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to UM athletics, seemed to sidestep the question.

When originally asked by a reporter, who referenced Clemson having 23 players recently test positive, if UM had any “issues with COVID within your own guys,” James said: “I think everyone in the community is dealing with it. I’ll say, overall, we’re very blessed that we have a

very good plan, and we’ve been able to stick to our plan. We’ve been able to keep our guys here working out. With that said, we’re in, I think, Week 2. You don’t know what the future is going to look like.

“We’re going to continue to bring more and more kids back to campus, and as you bring more and more kids back to campus, obviously there’s the opportunities for them to go out and be in the community. That’s why we have to just really emphasize the importance of social distancing, wearing masks, washing your hands or using hand sanitizer and just really taking all the steps we can as a program to put us in the best position to have as little of an impact as possible.

“I don’t think you can say you’re not going to have — you know, things happen. Trying to create a system that creates as

little impact as possible, and that’s my hope — that we do that. I know with the great plan that UHealth put in place, it’s going to help us down that road.”

James remains optimistic that there will be college football in the fall, but feels it will require a strong level of commitment to make it happen.

“We’re still too early to say what it’s going to look like,” James said. “The optimist in me says, ‘Yeah, we’re still going to have football.’ Do I think there’s a lot of things we have to do to get to that point? Without a doubt.”

James discussed how different the process has been this summer in getting student-athletes back to campus.

“There’s a lot more that goes into every day this summer than there has been in previous summers, and there needs to be,” James said. “We’re still in the middle of a pandemic, and we’re taking the steps that really look out for the health and well-being of our students.”