Boise State to resume spring football practice after recent round of COVID-19 testing
The Boise State football team will resume spring practice on Friday after halting all athletic activities earlier this week after a spike in COVID-19 cases and absences due to contact tracing.
Boise State conducted PCR tests on 133 players, coaches and trainers on Thursday morning and discovered no new positive cases, the university announced Thursday evening in a press release.
“At the end of the day, pausing all football-related activities was the correct decision,” Boise State AD Jeramiah Dickey said in Thursday’s release. “I applaud our staff for handling this the right way, looking out for the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff. We have been given clearance by our medical team to resume, and we’re looking forward to getting back out onto the field for spring practice.”
The Broncos suspended all football activities Tuesday after a round of testing produced eight positive cases and resulted in 11 players missing practice because of contact tracing.
The team practiced on Monday but did not on Wednesday. Teams are only allowed 15 spring practices, and a program spokesperson said Thursday that it’s unclear at this point if the practice the Broncos missed will be rescheduled. They began spring practice last Friday.
Before beginning spring ball, Boise State conducted weekly PCR tests on 50% of the team, which exceeded the offseason testing guidelines from the NCAA.
For the rest of the spring, all players, coaches and staff members will be tested on a weekly basis, the university announced on Tuesday.
This isn’t the first time the Broncos have put things on hold because of the virus. Boise State paused voluntary workouts last summer after a spike in positive cases led the campus to be shut down for two weeks in late June and early July.
After the Mountain West Conference initially postponed football season last fall, the Broncos were scheduled to play eight games but their regular-season contests against San Jose State and UNLV were canceled. Boise State finished the season 5-2 after losing in the conference title game against San Jose State.
Boise State’s spring game is scheduled for April 10, and the Broncos’ season opener is scheduled for Sept. 4 in Orlando, Florida, against UCF.
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 6:56 PM.
