Nick Saban might coach Saturday vs. Georgia after second negative COVID-19 test
By Josh Hill
After testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week, Alabama’ Nick Saban may still coach Saturday’s game against Georgia.
Nick Saban’s first victory of the week may come away from football.
After testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week, Saban seems to be on the other side of whatever his brush with the virus ended being.
Tom Rinaldi reported on College GameDay that Saban has back-to-back negative COVID tests, which is not only good news in terms of his health but means there’s a growing chance he coaches against Georgia on Saturday afternoon.
Nick Saban needs one more negative test to coach on Saturday
“There was initial concern if there would be spread or outbreak, but after the final team test on Thursday, those results came back and there was absolutely no indication of further spread on the roster,” Rinaldi said. “A lot of people now waiting on Nick Saban’s Saturday morning test.”
Saban needs three negative tests in a row in order to be cleared to return to duty.
First and foremost is the health and safety of all involved. Saban testing negative is something that even the most diehard Bama hater has to appreciate, given the human element at play here. The next question is whether his initial test was a false-positive or if he’s on the tail end of already having coronavirus. If that’s the case, everyone involved in last Saturday’s Alabama-Ole Miss game was potentially exposed.
However, if this is a case of a false-positive, which we’ve seen cases of in the NFL when it comes to COVID scares, everyone is likely in the clear.
Saban being able to coach the Tide’s game against Georgia is an instant game-changer for obvious reasons. Betting lines shifted away from Bama in the wake of Saban’s initial test results but his return to the equation gives Alabama an incredible advantage in addition to the ones it already had against the Bulldogs on Saturday.
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