Ute football program cases of COVID-19 have been minimal, coach and players say

Members of the University of Utah football team run out to the practice fields as they open spring camp in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 2, 2020. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

‘We’ve done the best, probably in the nation,’ says Ute linebacker Devin Lloyd of avoiding virus

SALT LAKE CITY — The COVID-19 pandemic has hit college football programs all over the country in recent months, from LSU, which had nearly the whole team infected, according to its coach, to Clemson, which had several dozen players catch the virus, to BYU, which had enough players affected to have to cancel a game against Army.

So it makes sense that the University of Utah football team would also be affected.

Coach Kyle Whittingham didn’t give any specific numbers, but in his first comments since the last week’s announcement of a restart to the season, he said his team has been affected minimally, less than most programs in the country.

“The tests for COVID have been way down,” Whittingham said in a Thursday morning press conference. “Our medical staff here has done as good a job as could possibly be done as far as putting protocols in place and testing structure and we’re probably one of the better schools in the country.”

Two players who also spoke at the press conference said they’ve had few problems this summer keeping healthy as a team.

“I would say that we’ve done the best in the (Pac-12) and probably in the nation,” said linebacker Devin Lloyd, one of the only returning defensive starters. “All of our athletic personnel have done a great job of complying to all the rules and enforcing them and it’s just a testament to the team on how well they’ve taken things seriously — wearing our masks everywhere, keeping our hands sanitized, doing everything the right way. That’s why we haven’t really had an outbreak at all. Cases have been very minimal and quarantines have been minimal. We’ve handled it as well as you can handle it.”

Ute tight end Brant Kuithe said it hasn’t been too hard staying away from the virus.

“We’re just doing what the team doctors and trainers say, to socially distance and wear a mask and do the things we need to do,” he said. “It helps that classes are mostly online and don’t have to interact with people on campus, just the guys around the facility. We get tested often and there’s really not much of a chance of anyone getting it and if they do, it’s like one guy. It’s not much.”

Whittingham did acknowledge it’s taken a lot of work to make sure players are doing what they’re supposed to and there’s a lot involved in keeping players as safe as possible.

“We have to consider and factor everything in — who they live with, who they eat with, where their locker is, where they sit in the position meeting room — it’s all got to be choreographed as best you can,” he said. “On top of that, these guys have a lot more free time than they’ve ever had with online classes and not being tied to a structure or routine. You’ve got to make sure they put themselves in good situations and away from bad situations, not only with COVID but with everything else that’s out there. We’re not perfect, but I think our guys have handled themselves very well.”

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