ATHENS – Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity was heading to lunch Friday when the news went public that the Bulldogs’ game against Vanderbilt was postponed. As McGarity was exiting the Butts-Mehre building, senior linebacker Monty Rice was just coming in, head down, eyes glued to his phone’s screen.
“He was just shaking his head and says, ‘Unbelievable, man!” McGarity said Friday. “I said, ‘Monty, I’m sorry.’ He keeps walking in, just shaking his head. I mean, I just hate it for these kids.”
McGarity’s not just sad; he’s mad, too.
Georgia’s AD went into a minute-long rant when reached on the phone shortly after Saturday’s home game was postponed because of COVID-caused personnel shortages in Vanderbilt’s football program. The game, which was supposed to kick off at 4 p.m. Saturday, was moved to Dec. 19.
“The Vanderbilt football squad size and position availability has fallen below roster minimum requirements, consistent with Southeastern Conference COVID-19 protocols,” an SEC news release explained. Should Georgia qualify for the SEC Championship game Dec. 19 - an impossibility if Florida defeats Tennessee on Saturday - the Vandy game would be declared a no-contest.
Meanwhile, the No. 8 Bulldogs (6-2) must turn their attention to playing a road game at Missouri (4-3) on Dec. 12. That development created quite a stir on the second floor of the Butts-Mehre complex Friday, where the football support staff was busy pulling out the Missouri files they boxed up three weeks ago when the two teams originally were supposed to play.
The thought of it was infuriating to McGarity, who said Georgia football has had no COVID-19 infections in its program.
“So, yeah, I’m upset,” McGarity said. “We do everything right, and our kids are making all kinds of sacrifices. I mean, COVID has not been in our football program as of today. What everybody has done is mind-boggling, Ron Courson’s effort, Kirby Smart’s effort, these players, the coaches. We have been ready to play, full strength, every game from a COVID standpoint.
“So, we know it can be done, and that’s the frustrating thing to me.”
Based on a social-media message she sent out Friday, Vanderbilt AD Candice Lee wanted it to be known that the Commodores weren’t ducking the competition. The Bulldogs were 36-point favorites as of Friday.
Georgia football hasn’t been completely immune to the virus. UGA was one of first SEC athletic programs to encounter the deadly illness caused by the coronavirus. UGA announced March 18 – just three days after the pandemic shut down college athletics -- that a member of its video support staff was diagnosed with the virus. That individual, 32-year-old Jeremy Klawsky of Plantation, Fla., finally was released from Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital, where for a while he was in critical condition, on April 16.
Perhaps that provided an early wake-up call for Georgia athletics and Courson, its longtime director of sports medicine. UGA was one of the country’s first programs to utilize internal rapid testing multiple times a week. It also created a bubble, of sorts, by restricting access to facilities, instituting an aggressive and systemic cleaning system and, above all, emphasizing to athletes the importance of wearing a mask and avoiding congregations of any sort.
“We make sure we wear our masks everywhere, even to meetings and stuff,” redshirt freshman offensive tackle Warren McClendon said. “Everybody always stays six feet away. And we’re always being real careful outside of the building. If we go out to eat, we get it to go, and we don’t go places where a bunch of people are at.”
“It’s not hard - masking, distancing, staying at home,” McGarity said. “But think of what these kids have given up. Thank God they have their health, but they’re missing family gatherings, parties, so many things, because they want to play and they’re disciplined enough to follow the protocol. When others don’t, it begs the question, how serious are these other young people being about this?
“We’re doing everything right all year and now we’re in jeopardy of playing just three home games and not having a Senior Day,” McGarity said. “That really chaps me. But there’s nothing fair in the world of COVID.”
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