Players excited to be in Pacific Northwest for end of season
The day after Thanksgiving, Stanford celebrated in Memorial Stadium by posing for pictures with the Axe after defeating Cal in the Big Game.
A day later, the players were concerned their season might be over after Santa Clara County’s health department issued new restrictions that prohibited contact sports because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.
But the school’s athletic department executives figured out a workaround. The Cardinal flew to Seattle on Tuesday, where they spent the rest of the week preparing to face Washington today.
Stanford held its walk-through Friday at a city park in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue.
The Cardinal will spend next week in Oregon before playing Or
egon State on Dec. 12, a game that had originally been scheduled for Stanford Stadium.
“Obviously not practicing at your field and not being on your home ground isn’t ideal, but the energy of the team has been great,” fifth-year free safety Malik Antoine said. “We’ve been having positive energy around the team, just using the situation to make the most out of it. We wanted the administration to know that we wanted to play, and we were willing to do anything possible to make that happen.”
Once the travel plans were arranged, the players had an opportunity to opt- out of the remainder of the season and remain on
scholarship, just as they could have done before the season started. Coach David Shaw said only a few players chose to stay home, and backup fullback Jay Symonds was the only member of the two- deep to take that option.
Junior receiver Michael Wilson said he was thankful for the support staff, including the equipment managers, coaches, and trainers, who had to leave their homes for an undetermined amount of time.
Santa Clara County’s order also requires a 14- day quaran
tine for anyone who enters the region from beyond 150 miles. So the Stanford traveling party will have to stay on the road through at least Dec. 19 when it plays its final scheduled game of the season against a to-be-determined opponent. The county’s order is scheduled to end on Dec. 21 but it could be extended if the case and hospitalization rates do not decrease.
“I know a lot of staff on the team have young kids,” Wilson said. “So I can’t imagine how their wives and children are handling it at home, missing their moms and dads here, but just so proud of the whole Stanford football program and Stanford itself for doing literally whatever it takes for us to
be able to play this game.”
Antoine said there might even be some advantages to being away, at least when it comes to football. With fewer distractions than at home, Stanford (12) can focus more on the Huskies (3- 0), who are ranked No. 22 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Stanford is on winter break so the players do not have to juggle online classes around practices.
“Guys are locked in,” Antoine said. “Obviously you don’t want to spend the whole day doing straight football, but you definitely have more time to watch football, dive into your opponent, dial into our own schemes and be the best player you can be.”