San Jose State’s football team will start practicing at Humboldt State in preparation for their upcoming season, according to a news release from Athletics.
More than 130 players, coaches and essential support staff will leave for Humboldt State in Arcata, California this week, according to the news release.
The team will return home for standard football practice when SJSU and Santa Clara County guidelines permit the football players to participate in contact activities again.
“We look forward to continued conversations with Santa Clara County health officials regarding our ‘Return to Football’ proposal,” SJSU’s Athletics Director Marie Tuite said in the news release. “In the meantime, to prepare to compete at the [Football Bowl Subdivision] Division I level, it’s imperative that we move from conditioning and skill development practices to team activities. Moving our football program to Humboldt State enables our team to prepare, while our County continues the important work of reviewing and approving our protocols. I thank Humboldt State for their willingness to open their campus to us.”
The team has not been able to practice for the season this year and are sticking to conditioning because of Santa Clara County’s health and safety restrictions.
Some limitations include not being able to participate in sports or recreational activities that involve physical contact with people outside your household because of the risk that such activities could spread the coronavirus, according to the Santa Clara County public health website.
Santa Clara County public health officials said this week they hoped SJSU would have adhered to their guidelines.
“We would be very disappointed to see a football team going outside the county to circumvent a process that was put in place to ensure the safety of its players and staff,” Santa Clara County public health officials told The Mercury News in an article posted Wednesday night.
Public health officials also told The Mercury News they understand the desire of many sports teams to resume practice, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 in the county remains substantial.
In Wednesday’s news release, Athletics stated that since student-athletes returned to campus in July, the university has scheduled COVID-19 testing for student-athletes and adhered to all county and state safety protocols. Two asymptomatic players tested positive for COVID-19 after more than two months of testing.
SJSU Athletics stated in the news release it is committed to following all safety protocols and will continue practicing social responsibility at Humboldt State.
This means all players, coaches and essential support staff will get tested for COVID-19 prior to their departure and will get tested once a week until the Mountain West Conference calls for more collection of testing, according to the news release.
SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan said he was thankful to those involved in the move for allowing his team to continue its preparations for the upcoming season in a different county.
“On behalf of our football team, many thanks to our university administration, our athletics department led by Marie Tuite, and the people of Humboldt State who are inviting us to be their guests and utilize their facilities as we get ready for the season,” Brennan said in the news release. “I’m excited for these young men in our program to visit another CSU and experience the beautiful Humboldt campus. This opportunity will be one we will remember for a long time and we are thankful to have it.”
