Ohio State football pauses all team activities amid COVID scare

The Ohio State football program is ceasing all team activities due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

In the lead-up to spring practice, the Ohio State football program will stop all team activities amid a COVID-19 scare.

While the Buckeyes still plan to commence spring practice on March 19, they will not be having organized team activities for the next week after halting organized team activities out of an abundance of caution. Though no numbers have been revealed, there has been an increase in COVID positivity among members of the football program.

“Our decisions on the welfare of our student-athletes, staff members and those coming to our campus, and our determination as to when we will reopen and resume activities, will continue to be guided by our medical staff,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“We have been successful in safely hosting nearly 100 athletic events on campus this year with limited disruptions, but this pandemic is not over. We will continue to stress the safety measures of wearing masks, consistent and thorough hand washing and physical distancing and we will remain vigilant in those areas.”

The Ohio State football program has a ton of questions to answer this spring

Ryan Day’s Ohio State football program is coming off another trip to the College Football Playoff, as well as its first trip to the National Championship Game since winning the inaugural playoff in January 2015. Though Ohio State will be one of the five best teams in the country again in 2021, the Buckeyes have some big questions entering spring practice. Chief among them are who will replace quarterback Justin Fields.

The candidates to replace Fields include CJ Stroud, Jack Miller and true freshman Kyle McCord. Though going with any of the three will not crater the Ohio State program, Day picking the wrong one will hurt his team’s upward trajectory through 2021. Because this quarterback battle is so important, Ohio State won’t want to miss too many practices this spring

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