Tigers resume practice Saturday

Memphis will resume football practice on Saturday, an athletics spokesperson confirmed to The Commercial Appeal Friday.

It will mark eight days since the Tigers announced on Sept. 11 they paused football activities due to positive COVID-19 tests within the program. The athletic department said the outbreak was "primarily linked to social events outside of official football activities."

The Shelby County Health Department said Wednesday that among 46 active COVID-19 cases involving Memphis athletics, 42 cases were related to a cluster related to the football program. The health department did not state how many positives were within the football program.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, a COVID-19 cluster is "two (2) or more confirmed or probable cases of COVID19 that are linked by the same location of exposure (e.g., hospital, long-term care facility, grocery store, etc.) or exposure event (e.g., work party, vacation, etc.) that is not a household exposure."

Memphis athletics confirmed the 46 active cases in a statement Wednesday night while also stating it had conducted over 3,500 tests for COVID-19 since June 5 with 81 total positives.

The athletic department, however, did not release how many active cases were in each program.

As a result of the positive tests, the Tigers and Houston postponed their game scheduled for Friday. Houston's rescheduled game against Baylor on Saturday was also postponed after Baylor announced Friday it did not meet the Big 12's COVID-19 game cancellation thresholds.

With Memphis returning to football practice, it keeps the Tigers on track to play their next scheduled game on Sept. 25 at UTSA (6:30 p.m., CBS Sports).

JOE RONDONE/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Memphis Tigers defender Jaylon Allen points out to the crowd after covering a kickoff against Arkansas State during their game at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020.