UCF cautiously optimistic as Knights continue to navigate COVID-19 challenges

UCF was one of the few teams last season that didn’t lose a football game to the COVID-19 pandemic. But even 16 months later, the virus remains a constant challenge as the Knights prepare to embark on the 2021 campaign.

And as the number of new COVID cases continues to skyrocket across the country, team vaccinations have become a crucial part of preparations for the upcoming season.

“We’re going to advocate for universal vaccination for our student-athletes,” American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said during the league’s virtual media event Wednesday. “They have real incentives to get vaccinated, health and safety obviously being the primary one.

“Our ability to play a full, uninterrupted season may well depend on it.”

Aresco said the league’s stance is not to reschedule games this season if a team cannot play due to COVID. Instead, it would be considered a forfeit. It’s a position taken by a growing number of conferences, including the SEC.

“Each program has a responsibility to do the best they can to use the COVID etiquette,” UCF coach Gus Malzahn explained. “That’s gonna be a big factor moving forward. I think most programs around the country saw this coming, and we’re no different. We need to do a great job with that.

“We think we got a great plan with how we’re going to handle that, to keep away from the tracing; that’s the one thing you really are concerned about the most.”

But it’s not just UCF that needs to remain cautious.

Boise State, which is scheduled to face the Knights in Orlando on Sept. 2, closed its practices to all outside individuals, including the media, due to positive COVID-19 tests within the athletics department.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and due to positive cases of COVID-19 within Boise State athletics programs, the department is taking the precautionary step of closing all practices to guests — including media — at this time,” the school said in a statement late Tuesday night. “The health and safety of our student-athletes, and preparing for a successful 2021-22 athletics campaign, is our primary concern.”

The Broncos, who opened camp on Wednesday, also canceled their scheduled media availability with new head coach Andy Avalos and players following practice.

There have been 2,331,082 cases of COVID reported in the U.S. over the past 28 days, according to John Hopkins University. Most of those have come in the form of the new delta variant. Meanwhile, the CDC reports that 70.1% of the population has received at least one vaccination shot.

The state of Florida is accounting for about 19.2% of the country’s new cases of COVID.

While schools like UCF continue to educate their players and coaches about getting vaccinated, the choice is ultimately up to the individual.

“It’s a personal decision,” said senior offensive lineman Cole Schneider. “But a lot of the guys really care about this team. They really care about winning games. They really care about ... because this is almost like a family situation, so we want to take care of each other and our futures.

“They’re not being told that you have to, but people want to win and people don’t want that risk factor and guys want to win games.”

Schneider admits he contracted COVID but luckily his symptoms weren’t too severe. He chose to get vaccinated for the sake of his teammates and in order to avoid any interruptions this season.

“We’ve all been talking to each other, and we’ve all been trying to get everybody vaccinated because that’s going to be a big thing for us because there are some teams that are gonna get hit hard by later on in the season,” said defensive lineman Kalia Davis. “I’ve been talking to people and they swear they’re not going to get it and they ended up getting it, so the more education they get on it, the more likely they’re willing to get it.”

Davis chose to opt-out last season over concerns with the pandemic.

Malzahn said close to 70% of the team is vaccinated but he expects those numbers to go up.

Aresco indicated that the AAC wouldn’t have to administer as many as three COVID tests each week during the season but did say the league would test unvaccinated players. He also stressed that in terms of requiring face masks and social distancing would be up to guidelines set up by local authorities.

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.