Colorado Mesa University (CMU) will be one of the only colleges in Colorado to hold a football season this fall.
Four games have been scheduled for this season, with more being a possibility, beginning with a game versus Chadron State at Stocker Stadium on Oct. 10.
“We asked them if they wanted to play,” CMU football coach Tremaine Jackson said. “Obviously the NCAA gave guys a chance to opt out, coaches to; we didn’t really have many opt out.”
The Big 10 recently announced they will play a season opening in October, in a national effort by teams to get back on the field. When it comes to CMU’s team, the Mavericks are not willing to let COVID-19 cancel the entire season.
“No, I wouldn’t say that [this year is harder than before],” CMU junior and quarterback Aaron Howard said. “I would say it’s just a testament of whether you personally can stay committed to goals, and stay committed to the tasks you have at hand.”
With COVID-19 being so prevalent and contagious, conducting an entire season of football is no easy task, but is only an extension of the team’s habitual trust in one another.
“When guys have a common goal and they want to do something, then they’re gonna take care of themselves, out in the community, out on campus to make sure they’re able to do that,” Jackson said. “And so it’s kind of everybody has to police everybody. Everybody has to be selfless, and then we have to make sure we continue to do the things that don’t put our players in harm’s way on the field of play.”
Earlier in September, a cluster of the football team was quarantined after coronavirus cases were detected from CMU’s randomly conducted COVID-19 testing.
“This development reflects that the Safe Together, Strong Together random detection testing, coupled with reflexive testing and contact tracing, is working as designed,” CMU Public Relations Director David Ludlam said at the time.
The faith that CMU and its football team are putting into each other is something no other Colorado universities will be doing this season, but is no surprise to Howard, who sees the team ensure their safety at all times.
“I don’t know if it is [taken seriously] within other football teams in the nation, as we have seen these past few game days, but I know that this football team is definitely taking this seriously,” Howard said.
Not only is the goodwill and trust of CMU and its football team a major advantage that allows them to play this season, but the school’s testing capacity for COVID has also aided in the ability to safely play this season.
“Our school has been awesome about testing, and making sure we test weekly, things of that nature so that we can provide a safe and safe environment because that was a part of the NCAA resocialization guidelines; we have to be equipped to be able to test,” Jackson said.
“We’re [going to] win all these five games, and then we’re [going to] call ourselves the RMAC champs,” Howard said. “These games count. They will count on our record with the NCAA.”
