Penn State just announced that its football program will suspend all activities for the foreseeable future over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
According to a statement released by an athletic department spokesperson within the last half hour…
We are postponing all football-related activities until further notice. We are assessing this rapidly evolving situation with the health and welfare of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and community as the priority. We will continue to seek guidance from University leadership, health experts and local authorities in making decisions. This postponement includes, but is not limited to practice, recruiting, media availabilities, Pro Day and any other football-related activities. A final decision on the annual Blue-White Game, scheduled for April 18, has not been made.
Penn State’s Pro Day for players eligible for the 2020 NFL Draft was to be held on March 17. Head coach James Franklin was slated to conduct his annual press conference signaling the start of spring practice the next day.
Penn State announced other precautions that would be put into place for the university, its staff and students on Wednesday, including mandating all classes be conducted online from March 16 through at least April 3.
Clearly, the program is going to wait as long as it can to make a decision on whether the Blue-White Game is played as scheduled. There are 37 days until the game’s original date, but it’s worth wondering if the game could be played at all, considering practices are going to be delayed — one would think — at least through the beginning of next month.
Donnie Collins has been a member of The Times-Tribune sports staff for nearly 20 years and has been the Penn State football beat writer for Times-Shamrock Newspapers since 2004. The Penn State Football Blog covers Nittany Lions, Big Ten and big-time college football news from Beaver Stadium to the practice field, the bowl game to National Letter of Intent Signing Day. Contact: dcollins@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5368; @DonnieCollinsTT
