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LSU football offensive line decimated by positive coronavirus tests

By Max Bevington

BATON ROUGE, LA - OCTOBER 05: The LSU Tigers offensive line during the game between the LSU Tigers and Utah State Aggies at LSU Tiger Stadium on October 5, 2019 in Baton Rouge, LA. (Photo by Andy Altenburger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - OCTOBER 05: The LSU Tigers offensive line during the game between the LSU Tigers and Utah State Aggies at LSU Tiger Stadium on October 5, 2019 in Baton Rouge, LA. (Photo by Andy Altenburger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Most of LSU’s offensive line is in quarantine due to positive coronavirus cases. 

As the SEC is looking to push forward with their fall college football season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic they are trying to ensure that safety measures are met and that the risk of contracting and or spreading COVID-19 is minimized.

But one SEC team in the LSU Tigers has a sticky situation on their hands in regards to the virus.

According to The Advocate, the majority of the Tigers’ offensive line is currently quarantined due to testing positive for coronavirus. And only four LSU offensive linemen have not contracted COVID-19.

LSU began mass testing of students who were returning to campus beginning Aug. 15 and 47 positive cases have been reported since then. And the athletic department said that all cases, including those of student-athletes, are handled by the school’s Emergency Operations Center.

LSU football dealing with an outbreak of positive coronavirus cases to the offensive line

With LSU scheduled to kickoff its football season a month from today on Sept. 26 against Mississippi State, the lack of healthy offensive lineman makes practicing with full contact difficult as the Tigers prepare for the opener.

The season is just a month away and teams are now beginning to practice like a normal fall camp with pads and contact. These practices are incredibly important to a players’ and teams’ preparation and the Tigers will be hurt by a huge swath of their offensive line missing valuable practice time.

Players who test positive must isolate for at least 10 days, meaning that they will miss around half of the practice between now and when the season starts. And that time will be difficult to make up.

And it could also harm the team in a larger sense, in that it could turn into a much larger outbreak that could infect many more players, as well as coaches, which would put their season in jeopardy.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron did not say whether these positive tests have forced anyone else into isolation. But let’s hope that no news is good news on that front and that the Tigers will be able to take the field a month from now.

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