The COVID-19 pandemic affected the Tennessee football Volunteers practice.
It took until the end of the second week of fall camp, but the novel virus that brought about global quarantining has affected Tennessee football. The Vols had to cancel Fridays practice due to an increase in positive coronavirus cases this week.
Jeremy Pruitt announced the news that afternoon, according to Patrick Brown of GoVols247. This was set to be UT’s seventh practice since the start of preseason practices, and it comes exactly four weeks and one day before Rocky Top’s season-opener at the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Brown reported that Pruitt did not reveal how many players had it. However, he said Tennessee football will get back to the field once testing indicates it’s safe to do so. When that happens is anybody’s guess.
This news comes two days after Jeremy Pruitt had moved practice time on Saturday so his players could take part in a social justice protest. Now, it looks like the Vols won’t be able to practice on Saturday anyway, although it’s also intriguing if some players will now be able to take part in the protest that was organized due to these tests.
UT is not the first SEC school to have to cancel practices due to this outbreak since fall camp began. The Vanderbilt Commodores and Auburn Tigers both had to do the same thing this week, and there’s a good chance more will come.
Nobody knows what impact this will have on the season, but it’s good for the SEC that the opening game was delayed until the end of the month. That gives all the teams plenty of time to address issues such as these when they arrive.
Back in the summer when players returned to campus, Tennessee football had no cases initially among the student-athletes. However, there was a spike after a July 4 break, and Pruitt said 23 players tested positive over the summer.