Guerin Emig: OU running back Kennedy Brooks reportedly opts out, pandemic numbers game seeps in
brooks #brooks
We are trapped in a numbers game.
How many cases of COVID-19 are there?
How many cases before it’s safe to resume a normal life?
What are the odds of getting the virus?
What are the odds of getting terribly sick?
How many days until I get my test results back?
How many feet until I’m considered safely distant?
The pandemic is no different for those in college football, a fact made clear by Kennedy Brooks’ weekend decision to opt out of Oklahoma’s season as reported by The Athletic.
The questions might vary in Brooks’ case. He should be familiar with testing and safety basics thanks to OU’s resources and, until very recently, its adherence to strict protocol.
But this is a numerical phenomenon just the same.
Brooks is a running back with an NFL future. It seems natural he would look around college football and notice how many other pro prospects choose to opt out. (The total number of opt outs according to CBSSports.com is 40.)
Brooks is unusually fit and, as far as we’re aware, has no underlying health conditions. Fit, healthy college football players have contracted COVID-19, however. He still has to weigh percentages.
He has to consider that his program appeared to go above and beyond to protect players, had weeks of sterling test results, and then still found itself with nine players testing positive after coach Lincoln Riley released the team from practice for a week.
That means Brooks must consider the number of people gathering at parties or other campus/community functions, the number of people putting him at risk, since Riley said all nine positive tests were “community-based infections.”
I don’t know if Brooks was among the nine players who tested positive. I can assume that number, like so many others related to the coronavirus, jolted him.
The numbers are jolting us, aren’t they? They are affecting our own decisions on how to proceed in our own lives.
Brooks reportedly proceeds with the notion the percentages work more in his favor away from his program than among it.
And now his playing the numbers game causes his program to do so.
Riley is left with four scholarship running backs. One of them, Rhamondre Stevenson, is scheduled to continue a suspension he began at last year’s Peach Bowl whenever OU’s season starts.
Does Riley ride three runners into the Sooners’ opener against Missouri State? Does he give H-back Jeremiah Hall some carries?
Also, what does this mean in terms of Riley’s roster management? We covered this ground some last month, when I suggested college football players could quarantine to the point that their coaches call up scout teamers to fill the depth chart.
What I didn’t consider then was the opt-out issue, how that could blow a few additional holes in lineups and rosters.
Take players automatically out with the virus, subtract players forced to quarantine through contact tracing, subtract players who chose to turn pro or sit out the season due to the virus, and now we start to wonder about a reasonable number of available players for a game.
“We haven’t identified the specific numbers of what would allow a team in our conference to move forward with a game,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said last week. “We’re trying to get down what that may be, whether it’s a percentage of a squad and recognizing it might affect a position and certain positions of the team more so than others and make it basically impossible for us to have a game.
“That’s why we’ve built in open dates throughout the season, so for whatever reason that game of that week could not happen, we could look at opportunities to reschedule if it’s possible.”
The Big 12 Conference settled on three open weeks for its teams. Everyone is trying to play a 10-game schedule.
It’s just more numbers, like so many others attached to this dreadful pandemic.
It’s case totals, recovery percentages and testing volume related to the coronavirus at large, extending into opt-out counts, roster sizes and schedule allowances when it comes to college football.
Big 12 releases revised 10-game football schedules
2020 Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll
1. Oklahoma Sooners
Total points: 888
First place votes: 80
2019-20 season record: Big 12 championship; College Football Playoff berth; 12-2 record
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 1
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 2. Oklahoma State Cowboys
Points: 742
First place votes: 6
2019-20 season record: 8-5 record; Texas Bowl berth
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 2
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 3. Texas Longhorns
Points: 727
First place votes: 4
2019-20 season record: 8-5 record; Alamo Bowl champions
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 3
Photo by MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World File 4. Iowa State Cyclones
Points: 607
2019-20 season record: 7-6 record; Camping World Bowl berth
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 4
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 5. Baylor Bears
Points: 489
2019-20 season record: 11-3 record; Big 12 championship game berth; Sugar Bowl berth
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 6
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 6. TCU Horned Frogs
Points: 477
2019-20 season record: 5-7 record
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 7
Photo by DEVIN LAWRENCE WILBER/For the Tulsa World 7. Kansas State Wildcats
Points: 366
2019-20 season record: 8-5 record; Liberty Bowl berth
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 5
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 8. West Virginia Mountaineers
Points: 287
2019-20 season record: 5-7 record
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 8
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 9. Texas Tech Red Raiders
Points: 267
2019-20 season record: 4-8 record
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 9
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File 10. Kansas Jayhawks
Points: 100
2019-20 season record: 3-9 record
Guerin Emig’s ranking: No. 10
Photo by IAN MAULE/Tulsa World File
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