Earlier this week the Big Ten had to cancel a game due to a COVID outbreak, and yesterday, Trevor Lawrence tested positive and will miss Clemson's game against Boston College tomorrow.

This is not the trend that the NCAA was hoping for when they pushed ahead for a season this fall. I have mentioned how they could survive if it were smaller schools having to push games around, or outright cancel them, and how if the players weren't "stars", it wouldn't really be a problem. But now the NCAA is having to deal with big name schools and prospects. Notre Dame and Florida have had to postpone games due to outbreaks. Wisconsin is now added to that list, and I am sure there are a good number of more high profile schools coming down the pipe. And while these schools have had to pause their seasons, no real super duper star player has tested positive. Notre Dame's QB didn’t test positive, that we know. Wisconsin's freshman QB did, but he isn't a top tier guy yet. Florida didn't release the names of the players that tested positive, so that means we don't know if their QB or stud tight end got it. And with coaches getting it, like Dan Mullen and Paul Chryst, I do not count Nick Saban because that whole situation is fishy to me, that doesn't really matter because they have so many assistant coaches that can take over if needed. But when a player of Trevor Lawrence's caliber gets it, and has to miss a guy, that should frighten everyone involved with college football. He is the Heisman front runner. He is the star player of the number one team in the country. He was very vocal about wanting to play. He has been on fire. And he is, if he leaves Clemson after this year, going to be the number one pick in the 2021 NFL draft. So the fact that he tested positive twice, that Clemson couldn't find some way to keep it quiet or cover it up, that he is missing a nationally televised game, this is all big news, and it is not good news.

Clemson will most likely beat Boston College tomorrow. They have a backup that was a highly rated recruit, and he does have game snaps due to all the blowouts, but that will not be the topic of conversation going into the game tomorrow. It will all be about Lawrence. I'm sure they will try and figure out how he got it, when he got it and how soon he will be able to return. The return, I bet, will be the biggest topic on all the pregame shows. The ACC has a ten day sit out policy for any kid that tests positive. And you may read this and say, okay, he will miss two games, but it is Clemson, they should roll. Again, I'm sure they will with BC, but they have the game of the week, and season, next Saturday when they face Notre Dame.

At the time I'm writing this those are the 1st and 3rd rated teams in the country. It will almost assuredly be a primetime night game. It will have as many eyeballs on it as possible. But, if Lawrence tested positive on Wednesday, and then again on Thursday, that would mean that the tenth day would fall on the night of that game. What will TV and the NCAA do if he isn't better? What if his "mild symptoms" get worse during the week? What if he tests positive again? What if he breaks quarantine because he thinks he feels okay enough to go out? Or what if Clemson's game this weekend is too close for comfort, and Dabo wants his prize recruit to come back before he is healthy and ready?

That, and the TV stuff, is what scares me most. Nick Saban wasn't supposed to coach last weekend against Georgia, but by some miracle, he tested negative when he needed to. This meant CBS could run their regular show and Alabama fans could see their coach on the sidelines, and everyone forgot about it. Again, he is a coach, and he has no other prospects. He is the GOAT college coach and he clearly doesn't want to return to the NFL. His career is set. Trevor Lawrence is about to get seriously paid, he is about to be in the NFL, and while he hasn't really needed for anything in his life, he won't have to ever again after he is drafted. But what if this lingers? How will that affect him in the long? What about how the coaches handle this? Dabo Swinney is all about winning, and doing it at any cost. I wouldn't be shocked at all if he rushes Lawrence back for their next game.

This is all very bad. And I fear it will be handled even worse by every adult in the room. This was my biggest worry for a college football season, and NFL for that matter, that these star players would get COVID and miss time, and possibly damage their future. It sucks way more for college kids because, for the naïve, they don't get paid a dime. I hope Clemson and Trevor Lawrence and the NCAA do the right thing, but they have shown too many times before that they won't, and that they don't care about these kids. This was the worst thing that could have happened for Clemson and college football, and I am curious and pessimistic that they will handle it the right way. This is a real bummer.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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