USA TODAY International Edition
Tide’s Saban tests positive
COVID- 19 issues impacted sports again Wednesday, wreaking havoc on the Southeastern Conference with Alabama coach Nick Saban testing positive and another game being postponed and causing the NFL’s Pro Bowl to be canceled.
Saban and athletics director Greg Byrne both had positive tests, the school announced. Saban, 68, said in a statement he has no symptoms but “immediately left work and isolated at home.” No. 2 Alabama is scheduled to host No. 3 Georgia on Saturday.
The SEC earlier announced that Saturday’s game between LSU at No. 9 Florida would be postponed because of an outbreak of positive tests with the Gators, this coming a day after the league moved the Missouri- Vanderbilt game from Saturday to Dec. 12. LSUFlorida is tentatively scheduled that day as well.
The NFL announced that its annual all- star game held before the Super Bowl will be replaced with virtual activities, in consultation with the NFL Players Association. Fans will be able to vote for Pro Bowl rosters, beginning Nov. 17, and the full, 88- man rosters will be revealed in December.
A six- time national champion, Saban is the most high- profile figure in college football, and perhaps in all of American sports, to publicly announce a positive test for COVID- 19.
His team played last week at Mississippi, which is now dealing with its own COVID- 19 outbreak. Coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday a number of players are out but declined to divulge how many will miss time or reveal which players.
Ole Miss is scheduled to play Arkansas in Fayetteville on Saturday. The team will go through another round of testing before the game.
“I said Monday in our first meeting that this just got real,” Kiffin said. “Any time you talk about things, it doesn’t hit home until it happens to you. Now they’re seeing it.”
Florida AD Scott Stricklin said Wednesday the Gators have 21 positive tests and have “less than 50 scholarship players available currently” when factoring in quarantining.