Coronaviruses Impact on College Football and Its Players

By: Marty Mahoney

The 2020 college football season has been like no other due to the coronavirus/ Practices, training, games, and college football players’ social lives are more different than ever. Teams have had to make significant changes to make this season happen. College football players Monty Montgomery, Asher O’Hara, and Xavier Lezynski explain the changes that occurred this season due to the coronavirus.

In the off-season, a main part of preparation is weight training but there was a new look to training this off-season. Xavier Lezynski, a tight end at Notre Dame, explained how many people “With the weight room there have been progressions. We started out only having about 20 people… and since June we have worked our way up to about 60 people in the weight room at a time.” While in the weight room there are also certain rules players must follow, Xavier Lezynski said, “We must ensure that we are spaced out from each other, that we keep our masks on and we sanitize equipment.” But at a smaller school like Middle Tennessee St. there are less people allowed, Asher O’Hara, starting quarterback at MTSU, stated, “15 people is the maximum for one session.” 

Players lives off the field have changed a bunch to stay safe from the virus and make sure there is a season. Monty Montgomery, a linebacker at Louisville, said, “My life outside of football changed because I can’t really be exposed around people as much as I want.” Players in these worst of times have also able to get some good out of having to be isolated, Xavier Lezynski said, “I have become more prayerful I’d say and have done a better job of maintaining strong relationships with my family and friends…Overall, I’ve realized how blessed I am.”

Practices have also changed a decent amount due to the pandemic. Asher O’Hara explains how practices at MTSU have changed, “This year we were masks to all practices and workouts, and we don’t do as much one on one action to avoid passing COVID along.” The practices at Notre Dame however have not really changed, but the player-coach meetings and changing have, Xavier Lezynski explains, “Our operations staff and coaches need to ensure that there not too many people in the locker rooms at once, so our offensive/defensive/special teams meetings are staggered.”

Gamedays in college football are usually like no other, the band, and the student section provide the excitement that professional sports can’t really offer. But this has been for the most part taken away. At most campuses, only students and faculty are allowed to attend the games. Even though this got taken away some good can come from it for the players, Monty Montgomery explains, “There is less craziness which is going to keep the players focus and there is no Card March(entrance before the game).” Crowd noise has also lessened a bit due to these new rules, Xavier Lezynski says, “The difference in gameday is mostly seen in having a limited number of fans. The stadium feels much emptier only being able to have roughly 13,000 people in the crowd. So with that, the crowd noise is quieter and it’s just a different feel playing in front of a limited number of people.” 

College football may have changed due to the rules of little fans allowed at games and practice guidelines, but the sport will always be special and these players know it.