UCLA football coach Chip Kelly understands that the players are excited for “one more opportunity to play as a group” this season but admitted that the increase in COVID-19 cases is concerning.
The Bruins were off most of last week to work on final exams before returning to a normal practice schedule this week to prepare for the Holiday Bowl game against 18th-ranked North Carolina State on Dec. 28 in San Diego.
“The health and safety of our players is number one,” Kelly said. “Our (preparations have) been good and I’m sure NC State’s prep has been good. The only thing that can sidetrack it is potentially an outbreak.”
Kelly mentioned that he had a long meeting with his players to discuss the recent spike in positive cases and the possibility of the virus putting the program’s first bowl game since 2017 in jeopardy.
“I would say all of us headed into bowl season now are a little nervous because it sounds like it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Kelly said.
He doesn’t necessarily have to point to the NFL’s record number of positive cases this week but rather the impact it’s had on the UCLA men’s and women’s basketball programs, which had to cancel games this week.
The Bruins haven’t wavered much from the protocols and safety procedures they put in place during the 2020 season. They continue to keep players six feet apart during indoor meetings and have continued to hold some of their larger team meetings outside.
“We are well aware of everything that’s been going on but we stay true to our protocol and nothing has changed since the beginning of August,” defensive back Martell Irby said. “We’re just trying to continue to be conscious, continue to be aware of what we’re doing when we leave these facilities so we can play this game.”
The Bruins were one of two Pac-12 teams that didn’t completely lose a game on the pandemic-shortened schedule in 2020, but they had to adjust quickly to arrange a Sunday morning game against Cal after Utah was unable to field enough players to face the Bruins that week.
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It’s unlikely that situation could arise during the bowl season after the NCAA created an extra bowl game to make sure every eligible team could play in the postseason. Every FBS team that wasn’t eligible has moved on and is focused on preparations for the 2022 season.
“We all have our fingers crossed and are all going to do what we can possibly do to stay away from it but when you look at this variant it sounds like it spreads a lot faster and quicker,” Kelly said. “We just have to be conscious of it and do what we can to try to prevent that.”
Kelly told reporters in July that the roster was 98% vaccinated. The University of California system required all students and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to return to campus for the fall term. The 2 percent of the UCLA roster that remained unvaccinated, because of medical or religious beliefs, had to apply for a waiver.