Boston College football tested 154 student-athletes and staff for COVID-19 on Friday. Every test came back negative—a great sign for a program planning to start training camp this Thursday.
At the beginning of July, it was reported that only one of the 93 BC football players tested for COVID-19 produced a positive result. That student-athlete’s name was not disclosed.
All in all, BC has tested 366 student-athletes, with just one positive result, according to Stadium college football insider Brett McMurphy.
BC football student-athletes returned to campus on June 22. By then, BC Athletics had a COVID-19 operational plan in place, where student-athletes were tested for the coronavirus on around day eight of the state-recommended 14-day quarantine period.
In the athletic department’s June press release, it was stated that, until Massachusetts moves into “Phase 4” of its reopening, student-athletes and staff members are to be given daily temperature checks before they enter the school’s athletic facilities. Additionally, personnel allowed in BC’s athletic facilities are required to wear masks in all common areas.
The Eagles are gearing up for the ACC’s first-ever 10-game conference schedule. BC will play six teams from the Coastal Division, three from the Atlantic, and longtime rival Notre Dame.
In head coach Jeff Hafley’s inaugural season, the Eagles will square off against UNC and Duke in the same year for the first time in program history, suit up versus Pittsburgh back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2003-04, make trips to Death Valley and the Carrier Dome for the second year in a row, and travel a total of 3,224 miles—the sixth-most in the ACC, according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman—during the conference slate.
Whereas the Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC moved to conference-only schedules, the ACC is trying to pull off a 10-plus-one model. Along with 10 ACC matchups, every team in the league will play one non-conference opponent. That opponent will be scheduled individually by all 15 ACC institutions and must be played in the home state of each respective conference school.
Over the course of August, programs will continue to adhere to their COVID-19 guidelines. There’s no telling what the sport’s landscape will look like by the time the calendar flips to September, though.
Already, a handful of players have opted out of the 2020 season, including Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley. A First-Team All-ACC selection in 2019, Farley is a highly-touted cornerback prospect who decided to sit out the year to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft.
Meanwhile, players from the Pac-12 have banded together to issue a list of demands about racial injustice, COVID-19 safety, long-term health insurance, as well as economic rights and fair compensation, according to ESPN’s reports. The student-athletes voiced their concerns through The Players Tribune on Sunday, threatening to opt out of preseason camps and the 2020 season if the Pac-12 doesn’t guarantee in writing a response to the players’ demands.
The first week of ACC action is scheduled for Sept. 7-12. But the Big 12 is still penciled in to kick off the college football season on Aug. 29.
