Aggies hope to prevent COVID spread, pause in-person activities

Texas A&M paused in-person football activities on Monday in response to two positive COVID tests within the program, coach Jimbo Fisher announced on his weekly Zoom press conference.

“We have paused our practice activities for the day,” Fisher said. “We will not practice. We will meet on Zoom with our players to watch the film and do the things we have to do.”

Fisher said upon returning from the Aggies’ 48-3 victory over South Carolina, an unidentified player and staff member tested positive for the virus. The Aggies were already without sophomore starting safety Demani Richardson, who tested positive last week.

The pause was made in hopes of preventing an outbreak. Players, coaches and staff members were to be retested on Monday afternoon.

“We're retesting the whole team again today, then, of course, extending the protocols that go on during the week,” Fisher said. “We're trying to prevent (a spread) and do everything from a safety issue with our players and our staff to keep them as safe as possible.”

Fisher said that he’s still optimistic the fifth-ranked Aggies upcoming game at Tennessee on Saturday will still be played.

This Alabama-LSU game scheduled on Saturday reportedly is in jeopardy of being postponed because of an outbreak among the LSU team.

The Auburn at Mississippi State football game of November 14 has been postponed due to positive tests and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Mississippi State football program, consistent with Southeastern Conference COVID-19 management requirements. The game has been tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 12.

The SEC’s COVID-19 management requirements, as developed by the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force, are available on SECsports.com.

“Right now, everything is full go,” Fisher said. “We’ll meet and plan on things. We’ll see how the quarantine tracing and all the other tests come back. You always plan for that, and you make adjustments as you go.”

Any games that are canceled could be made up on Dec. 12. The Southeastern Conference designated that date, one week before the conference championship game, to reschedule games, if necessary.

Fisher praised SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey to have the foresight to schedule a week to make up games.

“Our commissioner is doing a great job. Our league is doing a great job,” Fisher said. “Planning for the unexpected or the unknown is a hard thing to do.

“ I think the forethought they had to do that and the ability they had to do that is great.

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Safety Demani Richardson did not play vs. South Carolina after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.

“You have to stay with the safety protocol. That’s first and foremost over everything you do. The safety of the players: Your quarantining, your contact tracing, all the things that go with that. That’s a very hard job for our commissioner to do.”

Fisher said that Richardson would not be available if the game against Tennessee is played this week. He indicated the SEC has a 10-day protocol for players to test negative before they’re allowed to play.

Richardson would not fit into that 10-day window.

Fisher also revealed that senior defensive end Micheal Clemons, who did not play against South Carolina, had ankle surgery on Monday and likely will miss the remainder of the regular season.

Fisher said he was told Clemons would be out “three-to-five weeks.” That would make his return unlikely with just four games remaining.

“When he gets better, we’ll put him back in there,” Fisher said of Clemons, who leads the Aggies with four sacks.

Fisher did offer some good news. He reconfirmed that sophomore running back Isaiah Spiller and senior guard Jared Hocker, both of whom were injured in the South Carolina game, would be available to play against Tennessee.