The reigning national champions will not be joining the growing chorus of teams who will be largely sitting this spring out due to fears over the coronavirus.
As noted by The Athletic’s Brody Miller, LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Communications Robert Munson went on the Baton Rouge ESPN Radio affiliate to confirm that the Tigers would continue as scheduled with spring practice.
#LSU senior associate AD Robert Munson says on @1045espn After Further Review that LSU football will continue practicing, as will all other sports, since the decision is at the discretion of SEC schools.
— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) March 12, 2020
While such a declaration is normally run of the mill, that’s not the age we live in anymore after nearly all NCAA sports have been canceled or postponed due to concerns over COVID-19. The virus has led to numerous declarations of a national and worldwide pandemic and, among other things, led to the cancellation of March Madness this month.
The SEC was one of the first major conferences to cancel their basketball tournaments and took the added step of hitting pause on spring sporting events through at least March 29. That has not included football, a decision that has been left up to the individual campuses.
In this case, LSU is moving forward with practice while many of their peers nationally (like Notre Dame and USC) have not. The Tigers are scheduled to hit the field again on March 14, 17 and 19 before the school goes on spring break.
While the team may still be allowed to practice, recruiting remains off the table for Ed Orgeron and company. The SEC issued a directive that no on- or off-campus recruiting be conducted through the end of the month in order to potentially limit exposure to both recruits and the coaches themselves.
Some others in the sport have tended toward being overtly cautious when it comes to the growing concerns over coronavirus, Without a case confirmed in the area however, it seems the national champs are instead taking a different path.