Mullen ‘doing fine,’ expects Gators to return to field Monday

GAINESVILLE — UF coach Dan Mullen said COVID-19 cases continue to surface, but he remains optimistic the Gators will return to the football field for practice Monday.

Mullen said during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference that a player tested positive for the virus Tuesday as his program continues to navigate the outbreak that suspended team activities and led the SEC to postpone games against LSU and Missouri.

Yet Mullen remains optimistic the team can return to the practice field Monday even though a full complement of players will not be available as UF prepares for its rescheduled home game against Missouri on Oct. 31.

“Moving forward, we won’t be at full capacity as a team, but we feel comfortable our numbers will be at a point where we can play the game,” Mullen said.

He said it is difficult for UF’s medical staff to determine whether the latest case of COVID-19 stems from the original outbreak during the team’s trip to Texas A&M to face the Aggies on Oct. 10 or is due to players being outside the structure of football.

Players and coaches have been apart and on their own since Oct. 13 after more than 20 people in the program tested positive for the virus.

“It’s interesting to see now where the [contact] tracing comes,” Mullen said. “Obviously one of the things that you worry about with certain individuals is now that we’re kind of, we’re away — ... even though we’ve isolated, we’ve kind of taken ourselves out of our own bubble — that the structure, the kind of the structure we had before is not in place.

“So we’re trying to see now if any new case could have been from ... the original spread on the team, or if these are individuals not following the quarantine procedure or just going out and getting it on their own because there’s no football going on right now.”

Mullen, 48, announced last week he tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering.

“I’m doing fine,” he said. “The team for the most part [is] very similar. I think the majority of our guys have very minor symptoms.”

Mullen said he is self-isolated in his Gainesville home, staying in his bedroom and adjacent office and away from his wife, Megan, and two children, Canon and Breelyn.

“They’ve had multiple negative tests so far, thank goodness,” Mullen said of his family.

The coach said he and his staff are working on game-planning and recruiting while waiting to reconvene Monday.

The spread of the virus throughout the Gators program has led to at least 25 infected players, along with Mullen and two assistant coaches.

Mullen said the outbreak “definitely” began during the trip to A&M.

Last week, UF athletics director Scott Stricklin said two players did not report symptoms before leaving Gainesville with the team.

“I don’t think it [was] one specific aspect of the trip,” Mullen said. “Obviously, I think it started on the plane ride there and then other aspects. It started with a little bit of a spread there and you go, ‘OK, the one guy had a roommate on the road, so it spread to that roommate and then you had a pregame meal where these people sat at a table where that spread and then you had a plane ride where that spread and someone’s locker was next to somebody.’ So we’ll look at some of those things as we move [forward].

“I think it just started on the trip and then there’s a lot of different things that happen on a road game that obviously put you at a higher risk than playing a home game.”

The 14-day layoff from football could pose a minor challenge as the No. 10 Gators (2-1) prepare to host Missouri at 7:30 p.m. on Halloween.

Even though the team has not practiced since Oct. 12, Mullen said players are in game shape, unlike after the extended shutdown of sports. Coaches still plan to ease everyone back into the routine, such as it has been amid a pandemic.

“It’s not like Monday we don’t act like we think nothing’s happened,” Mullen said. “We’ll build back up a little bit on Monday into what we’re doing and getting ourselves back on track and ready to go play.

“I think our guys have handled everything so far this year extremely well. I expect them to handle this the same.”

Mullen