Gov. Bill Lee spoke with Donde Plowman about the Tennessee football Volunteers playing amid COVID-19.
A couple days after meeting with the Tennessee football team, University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman met with a higher-up to talk about playing the season amidst coronavirus. This time, she went as high up as possible.
Bill Lee, governor of Tennessee, revealed that he and Plowman spoke about planning to have a season on Rocky Top. This news came after the reports of the Pac-12 and Big Ten postponing their fall sports.
The conversation appears to have involved dealing with player safety and making sure there is a proper approach to the season for Tennessee football. Lee revealed they had the conversation on Twitter Wednesday evening.
Encouraging conversation with Chancellor @DondePlowman about the @Vol_Football approach to a safe season and how we can support our student-athletes. Proud of the work @utknoxville is doing to get us one step closer to football time in Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/ph7iOdWprk
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) August 12, 2020
Whether or not this means anything remains to be seen, but with the news that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is still in wait and see mode after delaying the start of the season, it appears that everybody in the league is being careful. They are certainly doing a better job than the Big Ten did when it tried to rush into the season without any preparations.
Now, this doesn’t mean the season will happen or won’t be delayed again. After all, the opening week in the conference is more than a month away. However, it’s still good news for everybody who wants a season to see officials taking this seriously.
Fall camp is set to start on Monday for the Vols, and as practices happen, the public will just have to wait and see if this all works out. After all, a lot can happen between now and the end of September, for better or for worse.
Taking all this into account, there’s not much to read into this story. State officials at every level clearly want Tennessee football to have a season, and many are doing everything they can to make sure it happens in a safe way. But they are at the mercy of larger events for now.