Report: Lincoln Riley says positive COVID-19 tests essentially sidelined one position group

One of the questions about playing a college football season in 2020 is trying to figure out what happens if an entire position group tests positive for COVID-19. Well, Oklahoma has apparently come pretty close to having to deal with that already.

During a Zoom press conference on Tuesday, Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley said that one of the team’s position groups was essentially wiped out by a slew of positive COVID-19 tests. Jason Kersey of The Athletic reported on Riley’s comment.

The position group was not named, though Riley reportedly said it was one in which multiple players are needed on the field at the same time.

Holy cow. Lincoln Riley won't say which position group it is, but says he had one group essentially wiped out — all but one — by a COVID test. He said it's a position group that needs "multiple" guys on the field together. #Sooners

— Jason Kersey (@jasonkersey) August 25, 2020

While that’s certainly not a good sign, it wasn’t all bad news out of Oklahoma. Later, Riley said that 17 players had been quarantined due to health and safety precautions, but around half have been cleared to return to practice.

According to SoonerScoop.com. Riley confirmed that Oklahoma is “definitely under 10 active cases.”

Lincoln Riley says they got 8 or 9 of their quarantined players back today. They had 17 players quarantined before that. "We're definitely under 10 active cases."

— SoonerScoop.com (@SoonerScoop) August 25, 2020

Certainly, this won’t be a normal year in college football. Having an entire position group essentially sidelined because of positive tests is not a good thing. But it’s also good to know that players have been cleared to return to practice and that Oklahoma’s number of active cases is dropping.