BLOOMINGTON, Ind.–Indiana University football coach Tom Allen believes the college football season will start on time, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
In a Zoom call Tuesday afternoon, Allen said when the coronavirus was “early in its stages,” he figured there would be a lot more answers by this time.
“But I’m optimistic about us starting our season. I think we’ll start our season on time. I do. I feel like that there will be challenges to be able to maintain the season without interruption,” said Allen.
That’s why Allen says they are focused on “controllable factors”, such as social distancing guidelines, sanitizing equipment, and getting players tested for the coronavirus as often as possible. More than 100 football players have been tested.
“If a guy starts having symptoms, they’ll get tested again,” said Allen. “So, just trying to do what we can to keep our guys safe.”
Last Friday, IU reported that four of their athletes tested positive for the coronavirus. Allen said at least one of those positive tests occurred within the football program.
“We’ve had a small number. So, like I said, there’s four in all of athletics,” Allen said. “So within that number, they’re not all within our team.”
IU originally had three non-conference opponents scheduled for the 2020 season, but will now only play conference opponents in the Big Ten.
“Those opportunities to be able to get ready for conference play have been very, very important for us, so we won’t have those now,” Allen said. “I support the decision the Big Ten made with that. I understand the discussions and leadership made that call.”
IU also reinstated tight ended Peyton Hendershot. Hendershot graduated from Tri-West High School.
On June 10, Hendershot pleaded guilty to criminal trespass charges. He was arrested in February for a domestic incident in Bloomington.
IU is supposed to start their football season September 4 at Wisconsin.
