The Southeastern Conference is continuing to proceed with its plans to play the upcoming football season in the fall despite decisions by the Pac-12 and Big Ten to suspend the fall sports calendar. In fact, the SEC released its revised schedule for the season on Monday as teams that are attempting to play close in on the start of fall camps.
However, the situation remains tenuous amid the coronavirus pandemic. Alabama head coach Nick Saban stressed the importance of both members of the teams as well as the greater population of following guidelines and protocols in order for football to have the best chance of successfully proceeding this fall.
“I think democracy is great, and I think people that have all these freedoms, I think that’s all great,” Saban said, via Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com. “But I think there’s one thing that is probably a common denominator that really makes all that work, and that’s that people have great moral integrity in the choices and decisions that they make.
“I’m not criticizing anybody here, but a lot of people a lot of people have asked that we wear masks when we’re in public, when we’re in crowds, when we’re in large groups of people, that we keep social-distanced. I don’t think they’re doing that just for the heck of it. I think there’s a reason for it.”
Alabama’s athletic director, Greg Byrne, tweeted out a photo on Sunday of a swarm of people tightly packed into a line attempting to get into a bar in Tuscaloosa. Byrne noted that if people want a football season, this isn’t the way to accomplish that.
“We’re trying to control the spread of this disease, and I think that our ability to do that’s going to go a long way in saying whether we can play football or not,” Saban said. “But bigger than that, it’s just your own personal bubble for your own personal safety. Every one of these students, to take the proper care of themselves and respect the protocols that people are recommending for your safety, and I just think that’s the smart thing to do.”