It’s not fall camp as usual for NC State Wolfpack football and their counterparts across the country. That’s because NC State has taken many precautionary steps to try to preven the chance of a COVID-19 outbreak on its roster.
Some of it is technological. For instance, NC State is one of many colleges that will be wearing new helmets fitted with a visor on the facemask to try to prevent potentially contagious respiratory droplets from passing from one to another.
NC State head coach Dave Doeren thought that the new shield did not fog up too much in the opening practice and only occasionally had to be wiped off, but fifth-year senior receiver C.J. Riley admitted that it will take time to adjust.
“It’s definitely a little tougher to breathe in with the visor,” Riley said. “It’s just something that we have to do if we want to play. You can’t really think about it. You got to keep pushing forward.”
If Riley needs some rehydration while trying to catch his breath, he'll have to make sure his water bottle is nearby. Players now have their own bottles with their names on them to prevent sharing during a water break.
Something else that will take getting used to for Riley is not being around his teammates on the defensive side of the football as often. Junior defensive tackle Alim McNeill noted that the two sides of the football have seen each other less frequently.
“We never really crossed paths with the offense when we’re doing anything,” McNeill said. “Whether we’re going to the weight room or going to a meeting. Post-practice, we have to drop our stuff in the indoor [practice facility] so it can be sprayed down and sanitized. Take our helmets off and put it in a chair, spray and sanitize, and then we go inside.
“Then we’ll hit the cold tubs, and the offense has to wait. They won’t allow the offense in the building, so we don’t collide [and] so we don’t have a lot of people in the same area.”
Even little things like meals now have a thought-out plan. The cafeteria and adjacent players’ lounge in the Murphy Center are now broken off into sections.
“They’ve kind of sectioned it off by your roommates, who you are staying with” sophomore running back Zonovan Knight clarified. “Trying to keep people from crossing paths and cross-contaminating.”
Social distancing within the NC State football operations facility is an obvious priority. The team typically had the position players meet in classroom-type rooms designated for each group. Riley noted there is a concentrated effort to keep anyone from being “clustered in big groups.”
“We got to spread out apart, so everybody’s spread around the facility when it comes to meeting rooms,” Riley noted.
“We don’t meet in our regular meeting rooms,” McNeill added. “Half the time we don’t even see guys on the other side of the ball, just so we don’t collide.”
Of course, there is always a basic, new rule that is also now applied.
“We always have to wear a mask anytime we’re in the building,” Riley said.
Knight acknowledged it’s been an adjustment learning the many new precautions, but it’s worth the effort.
“I think it will be beneficial in the long run, especially with the whole COVID situation and having a season,” Knight explained. “We need to make sure that we keep it at zero players testing positive.”
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